The Case Of The Catalans

Imagine if your country voted to become independent, that vote was then ignored and its political leaders imprisoned or exiled.Following Catalonia's independence referendum, Clara Ponsatí, Education Minister, along with Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont were charged with sedition. They had to leave Catalonia and go into self-imposed exile, and seven of their former cabinet colleagues were imprisoned. The Case of the Catalans is a landmark book that explains the injustice Catalans have faced by being marginalised with their political beliefs rendered unlawful by the Spanish government. In this book, Ponsatí and her team of influential academics discuss the future of the Catalan people and the political and social tensions that led to the controversial referendum.In a clear and accessible style, they aim to educate as many people as possible, whether interested in politics or not, about the extraordinarily backward democratic process that currently defines Spain's national identity and has defied the settled will of the Catalan people.

The book reviews the historical, legal, political and economic aspects of the present conflict between Catalonia and Spain, exploring why so many Catalans are no longer happy to be part of Spain. The book is compiled of six essays from seven Catalan academics, each one examining the case for Catalan independence, and making the situation easy to understand.

A collection of studies offering an up-to-date analysis of official policies to promote Catalan in a democratic framework in each of the main Spanish regions where it is spoken: Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.

The revolution of Catalonia in 1640 was a signal event in seventeenth-century Europe. Its causes and antecedents - essential for an understanding of the revolution itelf - form the basis of Professor Elliott's study of the Spanish monarchy at this time. They throw remarkable light on the whole question of the decline of Spain in the seventeenth century from its position of pre-eminence in Europe. From the fierce suppression of Catalan bandits by their Castilian overlords during the second decade of the century, Professor Elliott traces the gradual deterioration of relations between the principality of Catalonia and the government in Madrid. He shows how Olivares, the favourite and chief minister of Philip IV, attempted to use Catalan resources to fight Spain's foreign wars, and how the growing tension led ultimately to a revolution, which he suggests played a crucial part in Spain's decline. Professor Elliott's story is almost entirely based on previously unknown documents found in the Spanish national and local archives. These sources enabled him to write the first full-scale treatment of Olivares and his policies. While exciting as a story in its own right, it also stands as a case-history of the perennial struggle between regional liberties and the claims of central governments.

In this reference, Buffery and Marcer cover all of the areas historically inhabited by the Catalan people. These are, in order of size and population: Catalonia, which accounts for over half of the population of the Catalan-speaking areas; Valencia, with over a third; the Balearic Islands with just under 8 percent; and the Catalunya Nord, the Principality of Andorra, and the Catalan-speaking areas within Aragon, Murcia, and Alghero. The Historical Dictionary of the Catalans deals not only with the people who live in Catalonia, but with the language and culture of the Catalan countries as well. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 600 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, events, institutions, and aspects of culture, society, economy, and politics.

Throughout the world, liberal-democracies are grappling with increasing claims made in the name of minority national, socio-cultural and ethno-cultural identities that seek greater recognition in the institutions of the nation-state. This work inserts itself into debates centred on diversity through a normative and empirical analytical assessment of the political sociology of multinational democracies. The main thread of the arguments put forward is that federalism, in both its institutional manifestations and its sociological properties, constitutes a promising avenue for the management of cohabitating political communities and for the affirmation of collective identities within states that are constituted by two or more nations. Author Alain-G Gagnon develops his argument by contending that the federal principle allows for the exercise of advanced democratic practices within nation-states, permitting internal nations to openly affirm the bases of adherence to a common political project. At the same time, he argues that federalism nourishes the development of distinct collective traditions that serve to benefit all parties to the association. It is concluded that only in such a scenario will the elusive pursuit of an authentic and shared loyalty underpin multination states and ensure their stability, in contrast to the instrumental sentiments of belonging engendered by procedural territorial federal models. Focusing primarily on the Canadian case, this book also draws inspiration from other federal states (Belgium, the United States), as well as federalizing states (Spain, the United Kingdom). It will be of keen interest to students and scholars of Politics, European Studies, along with Nationalism and Federalism Studies.

As recently as the mid-2000s, Catalonia was described and analysed by scholars as exhibiting a non-secessionist nationalism and was seen within Europe and beyond as a role model for successful devolution which had much to teach other parts of the world. The Spanish state seemed to be on a journey towards an authentic federal order and was generally admired. However, the new century has been marked by an ever-growing independence movement, with 47.8 per cent of Catalonia voting in favour of independence in September 2015. Pro-independence mobilization has produced a rupture in political relations with the rest of Spain leading to a sovereignty struggle with Madrid. This book explores how an accumulation of long-, medium- and short-term factors have produced the current situation and why the Spanish territorial model has been unable or possibly, unwilling, to respond. The Catalan question is not purely a Spanish problem: it has direct implications for the traditional nation-state model, in Europe and beyond.

This book looks at the reasons behind the emergence of a Catalan nationalist movement from the late 1880s, one of the most important developments that took place in nineteenth-century Spain, with the 'Catalan question' thereafter never far from the centre of the Spanish political stage.