Recht auf Gleichheit vs. Recht auf Differenz. Dezentralisierung und peripherer Nationalismus am Beispiel Kataloniens

Diplomarbeit aus dem Jahr 2005 im Fachbereich Kulturwissenschaften - Europa, Note: 1,1, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät), Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This work deals with the problem of how to accommodate national minorities in multinational societies. In making such accommodations, devolution is one of the most frequently adopted strategies. National minorities in Spain, such as the Catalans, suffered through decades of repression under Francoism. As a result, the declining legitimacy of the Spanish state in Catalonia, the Basque Land and, to a lesser degree, in Galicia, required immediate devolution if Spain was to continue as a state on the same territory. The 1978 Constitution provided for asymmetrical as well as symmetrical solutions regarding the territorial distribution of autonomy: It did not outline a complete model of a decentralized state but rather defined the process by which autonomy could be attained - a process that clearly gave preferential treatment to the aforementioned three 'historic nationalities'. Initially, the prevailing constitutional interpretation was in favor of a higher degree of self-government for the 'historical nationalities' only. Yet, several political agreements between the two major Spanish parties brought about the generalization of autonomy levels, that is, an equal status of territories with and without nationalist traditions. According to some Constitutional Law theorists, however, the equal status of territories with and without nationalist traditions undermined the very purpose of autonomy: to recognize the different national identities in certain territories via the differentiation in status of these territories in comparison to the others. Following this theory, one should expect a growing dissatisfaction with the status of Catalonia in the Spanish state with the equalization of autonomy levels. Therefore, this work analyzes the decentralization process since 1979. After presenting the historical, political and constitutional framework, quantitative indicators are used to compare the levels of autonomy in various regions. While electoral behavior and public opinion in Catalonia present some tendencies towards growing dissatisfaction with the status of Catalonia in the Spanish state, the increase in the level of dissatisfaction is not linear to the equalization of autonomy levels. Thus, the final chapter discusses other potential intervening variables in explaining electoral behavior and public opinion regarding questions of autonomy and takes an outlook into the future of Spain's State of the Autonomies.