Nationalism and independence in Spain: Basques and Catalans.

Abstract

Basques are more separatist than Catalans because of dependent development in the Basque Country. The main features of Basque dependent development have been (1) an unbalanced economic structure, excessively specialized in the production of capital goods and (2) a bourgeoisie which has not identified with regional interests. Survey data from March of 1988 show that the goal of political independence is supported by twenty percent of Basque respondents and by only twelve percent of Catalan respondents. Moreover, Basque nationalism has been more anti-capitalist than has Catalan nationalism. The similarity between the Basque Country and Catalonia in many socio-economic and cultural variables has narrowed the field of competing hypotheses. Separatism in a highly developed society like the Basque Country allows for the rejection of the hypothesis that separatism and anti-capitalism should be a feature of nationalism arising from underdevelopment. The Basque case illustrates that levels of development are not responsible for the character of nationalism. Survey data analysis has also suggested that higher levels of separatism in the Basque Country, relative to Catalonia, are not the product of either cultural differences or of differences in the perception of ethnic competition between the Basque Country and Catalonia. In fact, cultural differences and differences in the perception of ethnic competition are suppressors of the disparity in levels of separatism between the two regions. This dissertation has shown that separatism in the Basque Country is caused by regional dependent development. As a result, Basques are more anti-capitalist than Catalans and the association between separatism and anti-capitalism is stronger in the Basque Country than in Catalonia. Basques are also more likely to think that the regional upper class has better served state interests than regional interests than Catalans. This difference in perceptions explains a significant portion of the regional disparity in separatist levels. Finally, survey data analysis has also shown that Basques are more separatist than Catalans partially because the economic crisis has been more harmful in the Basque Country than in Catalonia.