Devolution and National Identity Formation in Spain

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Keywords

Decentralization, National Identity, Democracy

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

This thesis evaluates how the devolution process initiated with the official establishment of democracy in 1978 has resulted in the formation or intensification of multiple national identities in Spain. The author argues that the change in distribution of political and economic powers among the different levels of government resulting from the decentralization procedure created a series of privileges that motivate interested politicians to encourage or intensify particular regional characteristics. Asymmetries in the areas of political authority and financial discretion granted to the regions by the central government and alterations in the party system are compared to opinion surveys and voting patterns in order to identify a causal relationship between the new institutional framework and the development and evolution of national identities. An evaluation of politicians' rhetoric with respect to the decentralization and nationalities issues reveals changes in the conceptualization of Spain and the regions, or autonomous communities, indicating a conscious attempt to shape people's identities. The study compares seven of the seventeen new political units classified as 'historical' or 'non-historical' and economically privileged or depressed. Results from the project emphasize the significance of institutional frameworks in the creation of national identities and point out the possibility of building non-mutually exclusive or 'nested' identities. In its examination of different aspects of the decentralization process in relation to the establishment of democracy and the formation of national identities, this thesis is relevant to the literature on democratic transitions and consolidation as well as to the literatures on identity formation and center-periphery relations.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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