Sub-state Nationalism and Immigration in Spain: Diversity and Identity in Catalonia and the Basque Country

Abstract

This article builds on recent attempts to explain why sub-state nationalist parties in West Europe and North America pursue varying discourses and policies in response to immigrant-generated diversity. It analyses the dynamics of immigrant integration in two comparable cases of sub-state nationalism: Catalonia and the Basque Country. In contrast to the hypothesis that sub-state nationalism and immigration are inherently antagonistic, nationalist parties in both cases have experimented with multiculturalism to make diversity a new marker of national identity. The recent assimilationist turn in Catalonia, however, demonstrates that regional electoral competition can sometimes complicate matters of identity.