National and regional identity in Spain
Historically, the modern country of Spain was formed by the accretion of several independent realms through dynastic inheritance, conquest and the will of the local elites. These realms had their own personalities and borders and one should note that Portugal is an independent country since the 12th century.
From the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, there has been a process of uniformization by the central authorities. Simultaneously, this uniformization has been repelled by some of the local elites that formed their own national consciences based on traditional historical, linguistical and cultural traits.
The dynamics between centralization and decentralization is one of the forces in the history of the latest centuries. Since the beginning of the transition to democracy in Spain after the Francisco Franco dictatorship there have been many movements towards more freedom in certain regions of the country in order to achieve full independence in some cases, to get their own autonomous community in others.
It is a fact that it does not exist something so straightforward as just one Spanish nationality for the whole country nowadays.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states the following intentionally ambiguous sentence that lies in the root of the matter:
- "The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards; it recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed and the solidarity among them all."
This article intends to describe the nationalist and regionalist parties' claims in Spain and it is divided between them, independently of their self-denomination, clearly distinguishable by their goals.
The structure of the article is also determined by social support and thoughts of the claims, so that even if there are political parties claiming independence from Spain for Castile, Cantabria, Aragon, Valencia, Andalusia or Murcia they hardly get any vote and thus do not represent the popular identitary and national sentiment.
Note that the only two autonomous communities not mentioned in this article are Madrid (capital of the State, traditionally part of Castile La Mancha, most of it population identifies itself primarily just with Spain) and La Rioja (traditionally part of Castile-Leon, there are little supported cultural movements to bring it nearer to the Basque Country, see Laminiturri).
A Spanish State would be composed by the traditional regions or nations of Castile (Burgos, Soria, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Avila, Madrid, La Rioja, Cantabria, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Albacete, Guadalajara, Caceres, Badajoz, Valencia, Alicante), Leon (Leon, Zamora, Salamanca, Asturias), Aragon (Huesca, Zaragoza, Teruel) and Andalusia (Huelva, Jaen, Malaga, Granada, Cadiz, Sevilla, Cordoba, Almeria, Murcia), while 4 apart independent European states would be the Basque Country (Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Alava, Navarre), Catalonia (Barcelona, Lleida, Girona, Tarragona, Castellon), Galicia (A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, Pontevedra) and the already independent Portugal (Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo, Algarve).
Identity ambiguous regions and provinces (written in italics) have been quite randomly assigned.
Nationalism
Nationalist movements in Spain find an undeniable incompatibility between the Spanish nationality and their own nationalities.
Basque nationalism runs the range from full independence to further devolution to the Basque government.
For instance, the PNV wins regularly any election (municipal, autonomical or estatal) in the Basque Country autonomous community, but the fact that it does not need majority in order to achieve this and that electors of PNV do not unanimously support (full) independence, prevents of thinking that independence is a generally accepted idea by Basque population.
According to recent studies (see Euskobarómetro [1], [2]) , the majority of the population in the Basque Country autonomous community would vote YES (55% against, 45% NO, 32% not voting) in an independence referendum. Different results appear when the options are independence, further devolution or the current status.
The nationalists consider Navarre and the French Basque Country as part of the same nation, the Basque Country.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
The President of the Basque Government proposed in 2003 a plan for changing the current status of the Basque Country as an autonomous community to an Associated Free State (see Associated State and Free State). It was approved by the majority (39 votes against 35) of the Basque Parliament, but the Spanish Congress of Deputies rejected it in 2005 (313 NO, 29 YES, 2 not voting) and it could not reach its goal.
Historically Catalan nationalism has supported a federalization that respects a Catalan nation within the Spanish state. Although most nationalist parties in Catalonia do not openly claim an independent state (ERC does), it is regarded as the wish of a great part of the population, and in fact it was, during a short period in the Spanish Civil War.
The nationalist usually consider the Catalan-speaking regions (Catalonia, Land of Valencia, Balearic Islands, the independent state of Andorra, Roussillion and some adjacent strips) as part of the same nation, the Catalan Countries.
The inhabitants of the Aran Valley keep their own dialect of the Gascon language besides Catalan and Spanish.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
In 2006 a draft of a new Statute of Autonomy declared Catalonia a nation, but finally it was changed back to nationality (due to political pressure from both the Spanish Government and Opposition) and approved in a controversial referendum.
See Galician nationalism, Bloque Nacionalista Galego and Celtic Nations.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
The Galician Government is drafting a new Statute of Autonomy where Galicia will be defined as a nation.
Only in recent times a nationalism movement has been developed here.
Its insularity requires several specific treatments.
Even the Franco government conceded several privileges to the islands to compensate for their remoteness.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
The Canarian Government is drafting a new Statue of Autonomy where the Canary Islands will be defined as a nation.
Regionalism
In most of these following regions people do not find conflictive the Spanish nationality and their own claimed national or regional identity.
Regionalists in Castilla (such as Tierra Comunera) want to unify the traditional provinces of the kernel of the old Kingdom of Castile (Old Castile and New Castile), and that would include the modern communities of Castile-Leon, Cantabria, La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Madrid, and perhaps even provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Murcia.
In the map shown above it is visible that Castilla has the so many times told shape of a wedge, the way the Castilian language spread to other parts of the peninsula (from Cantabria and La Rioja).
Traditionally it was an independent kingdom that forged Spain in its fusion with the Kingdom of Castile.
But by no means they wish an independent state, but to be fully recognized as a distinct and important region in Spain with its own (not yet officially) recognized Aragonese language.
See Chunta Aragonesista.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
Andalusia got its first Statute of Autonomy from the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War, and so it is considered an historical community in Spain.
They have a peculiar culture, way of being and behaving of their own, that makes the stereotype of the Spanish people as seen by many foreigners.
They speak a very different dialect of Spanish, often difficultly understandable by non Andalusian because of its hard accent (mainly in phonetics, rather than in grammar). This language is considered an Andalusian dialect of Spanish or as a full Andalusian language of its own by some people.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
Regionalist and nationalist parties (e.g. Andecha Astur) here do not get much support from population, but they have clearly an identity.
A wish for independence is stated sometimes by those parties, but as Asturias was the initial core of the Reconquista, most of the people do not feel that there is any incompatibility in being Asturian and Spanish. Moreover, Asturian nationalist and regionalist claims are divided among independence, regionalism itself, conforming an autonomous community of Leon, or even joining Galicia.
Their sign of identity is the Asturian Language, regarded by many as a dialect of the Astur-Leonese.
Regionalists of Leon want to obtain an autonomous community including the provinces of Leon, Zamora and Salamanca, and Asturias eventually joining them, the territories of the Kingdom of Leon.
They repel their present unification with Old Castile.
Their sign of identity is the Leonese language, that brings them near their Asturian neighbours.
See Leonese People's Union and País LLïonés.
Identity ambiguous regions in Spain
The following regions have belonged to different kingdoms, realms, states or regions for a time, and their population regularly consider themselves differently mostly depending on the part of the region.
Some of these want to be identified with their own regional identity (such as Navarre, Cantabria or Valencia), but in fact they are the outcome of different cultural and linguistical adjacent streams.
Its people may feel to be either Basque or Spanish, and their culture is more akin to either Aragon or Castilla in the southern and eastern parts, but in the northern half lies the original homeland of the Basque people, where Basque language is still spoken and is better preserved than in western and southern parts of the autonomous community of the Basque Country.
See Nafarroa Bai and Navarrese People's Union.
Valencian, a dialect of Catalan (but officially declared an independent language by the Valencian Parliament), is spoken in most of the territory of the Valencian autonomous community, however the nationalist sentiment is not widespread and most of the population consider themselves as much Valencian as Spanish.
Any claim about Castellon being more Catalonian nationalist is absolutely false (electoral results show that just about 10% of the votes in Castellon are nationalist, and slightly higher in the provinces of Valencia and Alicante with 11%).
There are territories in the Valencian autonomous community declared "historically Spanish speaking areas". These include parts of the inner an southern autonomous community and represent a total of 25% of it.
See Politics of Valencia, Valencian Left and Valencian Nationalist Bloc.
Its Statute of Autonomy defines this region as a nationality.
They also speak some dialects of Catalan (mallorquí, menorquí, eivissenc, formenterer), but they sympathize with Catalonian nationalistic claims more often than Valencian people do.
In fact, they officially call their language Catalan in the Statute of Autonomy (while in Valencia they call it Valencian):
This region is a traditional part of the Kingdom of Castilla, but there is some Leonese and Asturian influence in their language and culture.
See Cantabrian Nationalist Council.
This region was conquered by the Kingdom of Castile, but repopulated by many Leonese people, and their dialect (castúo) is thought to be a variety of the Leonese language.
In the South they speak something related to the Andalusian dialect or accent of Spanish.
See Extremaduran language.
There are some parts where Portuguese is also spoken near Olivenza.
This mediterranean region has belonged to several taifa kingdoms of Al-Andalus, Aragon and Castilla, therefore it shares many similarities with Andalusia, Valencia and Castile La Mancha.
There are two identities in these African cities. The Spanish-speaking Christians feel similar to Andalusians. The bilingual Muslims speak Arabic or Berber besides Spanish and have familiar, commercial and cultural relations with neighbour Morocco. The Moroccan government explicitly claims the cities as their own, but the Muslims acknowledge the benefits of a European developed democratic country.
Identity ambiguous provinces in Spain
It is a province of the Basque Country.
It has cultural traits with Castile and La Rioja.
The now disappeared political party Unidad Alavesa[3] supported for a time a secession from the Basque Country, but that drove them to not getting any representation in the Basque Parliament and dissolution, with many of their members fleeing to PP.
It is a province of Castile La Mancha.
It belonged to Murcia before.
It is a province of Andalusia.
At the beginning of the democracy there was some polemy about whether they should belong to Andalusia or Murcia, because of cultural resemblances.
It is a province of Castile-Leon.
Leonese regionalist movement claims it as part of an autonomous community of Leon, but Salamanca has many similarities with purely Castile tradition and Extremadura too.
Conflicts with "nationality" and "nation" and related controversy in Spain
- - Those two terms do not mean the same at all, but they are used indistinctively by nationalist parties when justifying their political plans within the Spanish Constitution.
- - Spain is currently not a "Nation of nations", despite of the ambiguous statement in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, and thus it seems that it is non-constitutional for a region or nationality to declare itself a nation while inside the Spanish Nation.
- - Apparently, it is stated that a "region" of Spain can be either a nationality or a "plain" region, composing then Spain of nationalities (Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Aragon, Valencia and Canary Islands) and regions (the rest of Spain), but this is not explicitly specified anywhere in the constitution.
- - The Spanish Constitution of 1978 makes Spain to be a decentralized state, but to work almost as a federation of states in fact.
- - Even if an autonomous community declares itself a nationality (and it does have the constitutional right to do it) that does not mean actually anything radically different from a region (since the degree of autonomy is determined by historical regionality, i.e. whether they got a Statute of Autonomy during the Second Republic or not, and the will of the population).
- - The Spanish Government does not recognize the right of self-determination of its hypotetical underlying nationalities or nations, and will not respect the outcome of an eventual regional referendum regarding the subject of autodetermination or independence.
- - The term nationality refers only to the region, and not to its citizens. That is, that a region can be a nationality, but that does not imply that their citizens (also) have the nationality of that region, but only Spanish nationality.
The "Core of Spain" and "Fear of Disintegration"
Despite of several nationalistic claims in different parts of today's Spanish State, political analysts generally judge that any actual disintegration of the State as very unlikely.
Even if the Basque Country, Catalonia or Galicia got an independent state, the remaining population in the rest of Spain would keep considering themselves mainly Spaniards, along with sizeable population within the Basque Country, Catalonia or Galicia themselves.
See also
- Autonomous communities of Spain
- Autonomist and secessionist movements in Spain
- The nationality debate in Spain
- Identities in Spain
- Coconstitutionalism
- Basque people
- Catalan people
- Galician people
- Andalusian people
- Castile and León, Aragón and Navarre were independent states
- Iberian languages
- Disintegration of Yugoslavia
- Nacionalidad Histórica (Wikipedia, Spanish)
- Europa de los Pueblos (Wikipedia, Spanish)
External Links
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