Multiple Identities in Decentralized Spain: The Case of Catalonia

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Regional & Federal Studies on 1998, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13597569808421060.The persistence of a dual identity or compound nationality in Spain reveals the ambivalent nature of the internal ethnoterritorial relations that have existed in recent times. In line with cultural pluralist premises, the emphasis is placed not merely on the distinctiveness. Those relationships of interaction between the different ethnoterritorial groups within the state are also to be underlined. It has been argued that political accommodation to secure political and institutional stability in pluriethnic societies or polyarchies is almost impossible and is bound to result in either the breakup of the state or the consolidation of a type of hegemonic authoritarianism for the control of the state's unity. On the contrary, ethnoterritorial co-operation and agreement may not only overcome conflicts and divergence within plural polities but can also provide a deepening of democracy by means of a more effective access of civil society to political decision-making. In the case of Spain, this development overlaps with its internal ethnoterritorial and cultural diversity.Peer reviewe