The Catalan ethnic conundrum

At times of great ethno-nationalist mobilizations in Catalonia, it may be informative to briefly review the recent history of the Catalan issue, and to attempt to characterize the conflict.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 established a decentralized regime, which nevertheless fell slightly short of federalism1. That system can be accurately described as an incomplete contract. Being incomplete, it is subject to perennially conflicting interpretations. Add the absence of an impartial judge (the Spanish Constitutional Court may be less politicized than many other supreme/constitutional courts, but sufficiently politicized to not command universal respect), and the success of the Basques in securing certain privileges like paying lower taxes, and you get a picture of why the system has never been in equilibrium for very long. For most of Spain's four decades of democracy, at...