Regional and National Identities in Spain

Abstract

In this chapter, I contend that territorial (both regional and national) identities in Spain are shaped by a conflict involving the centre and the peripheries, that is, the Basque Country and Catalonia. The chapter traces back the conflict, devoting a special attention to its evolution since 2010. In the last decade, this internal conflict appeased in the Basque Country, and intensified in Catalonia. The push for independence in Catalonia, and statewide political parties’ unwillingness to offer a political solution to the conflict lies behind the escalation of the conflict and the crystallization of these antagonistic identities. Even if dual identities continue to be the modal category of identification in Spain, Catalonia, and the Basque Country, the conflict has altered the meaning of these identities. Future research should help to elucidate the relational meaning of these identities, that is, the way in which people with dual identities in Spain perceive people in Catalonia and the Basque Country and vice versa.