Separatism and identity: a comparative analysis of the Basque and Catalan cases

This paper explores the potential of elections to change our emotions and modify the relevance that voters assign to self-interest and group-identity issues. We examine this question by analyzing the 1998–2016 period of the Catalan and Basque regional elections. The analysis exploits that Basques pushed to leave Spain in the early 2000s, and Catalans pursued independence about fifteen years later. When the separatist goal emerges, two issues gain relevance. First, there is a significant rise of identity politics, associated with the territory’s culture and language, to the detriment of other issues that traditionally explain vote choice, such as the left-right ideology, the degree of regional autonomy, or the economic discontent. Second, the territory becomes more divisive, big cities align against dominant separatist parties, and rural areas align with independentists. We conclude that material self-interests dilute and group-identity factors emerge to determine vote decisions in times of national dissolution.The authors gratefully acknowledge Bernard Grofman, Elona Harka, Ingrid Mauerer, Thomas Meyer, Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín and the seminar audience of University of Mannheim, Universidad de Málaga and the ECPR General Conference for helpful comments and suggestions. The authors acknowledges excellent research assistance by Jorge Antonio Gómez Fábrega y María Daysi Orna Bravo. Finally, Socorro Puy acknowledges financial support under the projects PID2020-114309GB-I00 (from Gobierno de España) and PY18−2933 (from Junta de Andalucía