While talk of a referendum regarding Catalonia becoming independent from Spain has been occurring for months, on October 1st, Catalonia finally voted. Madrid did everything in its power in hopes of stopping the vote from happening. These actions included seizing ballots, detaining senior officials organizing the vote, shutting down election websites, and deploying thousands of police personnel to restrict access to voting stations. Despite their efforts, the poll took place, and results displayed a 42.6% voter turnout rate, with 90% of votes in favor of independence from Spain.
Prime Minister Rajoy of Spain and President Puigdemont of Catalonia both describe their platforms as defending democracy, but their definitions of democracy are different. On one hand, Prime Minister Rajoy defines democracy as following the letter of the law. On the other hand, President Puigdemont defines democracy as the right to self-determination and autonomy. Although Spain embodies the characteristics necessary to identify as a democracy, recent events surrounding Catalonia’s referendum regarding secession reveal that Spain is in danger of becoming a victim to democratic erosion.
Spain’s reactions to Catalonia’s decision to proceed with the referendum have been labeled as violent and repressive by the media and intellectuals around the globe. Due to the accessibility of news and media footage, the world has seen real-time footage of the violence and described it as oppressive. A government whose actions oppress its people can be seen as undemocratic; however, regardless of how undemocratic their actions are, by no means does that call for stripping the Spanish government of its label as a democratic entity.
The ability to label an institution or its actions as undemocratic depends on the definition of democracy being used. According to Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition by Robert Dahl, democracy is “the continuing responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals.” This definition infers that in order for a government to be considered a democracy, its people must be able to formulate and signify their preferences. This includes having free and fair elections, freedom of expression, and the right to vote. By labeling the referendum as illegal and therefore refusing to recognize its results, Madrid is denying Catalans’ freedoms that should be guaranteed to them granted that Spain is democratic.
Disguising and justifying repressive measures by citing the law, as Madrid has done, is known as “stealth authoritarianism.” This term, coined by Orzan Varol can further be described as legally justifying repressive actions in order to categorize them as legitimate, making these authoritarian practices harder to identify and eliminate.
The Spanish Courts justified their decision to label the referendum as unconstitutional because it would only poll a portion of Spain’s residents. Employing judicial review to further a specific agenda, regardless of the preexisting claims that the decision is undemocratic, is a common mechanism categorized under stealth authoritarianism. The results of the referendum may not be the most accurate representation of what the outcome of this independence movement should be, but the Spanish government’s vocal stance of firmly declining to even participate in this conversation denies them of their freedom of expression.
In the scenario that Catalonia formally declares independence, Spain will most likely invoke Article 155. Article 155, which has never been used before, allows the Spanish government to take control of an autonomous region if it “acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain.” Invoking this article to subdue this well-established movement for independence would allow Madrid to use the rule of law and constitutional legislation to make it difficult to conclude whether the use of Article 155 in this manner is abusive or legitimate. Furthermore, according to President Puigdemont, invoking Article 155 would only strengthen the independence movement.
Another possible route of action that lawmakers in the Spanish administration are considering is dissolving the Catalan parliament and holding regional elections to assemble an entirely new body of members. Doing so would depict executive aggrandizement, which is “when elected executives weaken checks on executive power one by one, undertaking a series of institutional changes that hamper the power of opposition forces to challenge executive preferences.” Executive aggrandizement is a method elected officials can employ to undercut democratic institutions, leading to democratic erosion. The disassembling of institutions that may challenge the executive power is done through legal methods, such as changing the courts. The dismemberment of the current Catalan parliament in order to assemble a new one in its place would be a completely legal way to weaken opposition against Prime Minister Rajoy and his administration.
The Spanish government asserting its authority over Catalonia, however “violent” or “oppressive” as it may seem, doesn’t automatically classify the regime as authoritarian and undemocratic. Nevertheless, their actions in response to this independence movement employ tools that are commonly associated with eroding democracy. Democracy, at its core, is a representative political system with the goal of addressing and resolving relevant issues based on the preferences of its citizens. Instead of trying to suppress this movement, the Spanish government should actively participate in the conversation exploring the overall wishes of the people of Catalan. If both Spanish nationalists and Catalan separatists were to take a step back and go into a series of productive conversations instead of making vague statements and nuclear threats, democratic erosion could be avoided.
Photo by Liz Castro, “Holding Hands for Catalan Independence NYC,” Creative Common Zero License.
Maxine,
I really enjoyed reading your post. It’s great to see you tie in so many different aspects of coursework and relate it to real life occurrences.
It goes without saying that Catalan independence is a terribly messy situation. It simply was awful to see Spanish police officers (Guardia Civil-sent by Madrid) punching, kicking, dragging and harming innocent people who simply were casting a vote for self-determination. A democracy is, after-all, responsible to its citizens. It’s fascinating to see a Western democracy be put to the test as an entire, autonomous region of the country seeks to separate itself, democratically. I agree that it is certainly important for a democracy to take into consideration and act upon the will of the people; however, I have many questions regarding the situation at hand.
On what basis do Catalans have a right to vote for independence? What is Spain to do with Basque Country? Galicia? Valencia? Andalusia? Neither the Arabs nor the Romans ever reached Basque lands…they speak a language unlike any other European tongue, they have their own culture and traditions, ought they have a vote as well? What about those in Galicia where they speak Gallego and share more in common with the Portuguese than the “Spanish” one may argue? And Catalunya’s southern neighbor, Valencia, that speaks their own language as well, Valenciano (commonly accepted as a dialect of Catalan)? Even those pesky Andalucians talk of separating and having their own land! Spain is a diverse nation with five different (official) languages and vastly different peoples. It was not but just recently that the ETA, the Basque “terrorist” group that sought Basque independence, agreed to lay down their arms. My point in mentioning this is to bring to light the complexity of the issue that Madrid must address.
Francisco Franco sought to unify Spain as “una gran nacion” (one grand nation), himself being a Gallego. Spaniards of all backgrounds were denied the right to speak or write in their native tongue for decades after Franco took control having won a brutal Civil War. Should all seventeen autonomous regions be allowed to vote for independence? Other than the Basque Country, Catalunya already has significant more autonomy than the other 15 autonomous Spanish regions. Given that a democracy is indeed responsible to the will of the people, where are we to draw the line?
Two of your statements in particular stuck out to me, the first, “a government whose actions oppress its people can be seen as undemocratic” and further “by labeling the referendum as illegal and therefore refusing to recognize its results, Madrid is denying Catalans’ freedoms that should be guaranteed to them granted that Spain is democratic” because according to the letter of the law, the Spanish constitution of 1978, Puigdemont and the Catalan Parliament are indeed breaking the law. Further, it is important to note that while Catalan independence may have great support within Catalunya, so does the desire to see Catalunya remain part of Spain e.g. hundreds of thousands turning out to counter protest against their fellow Spaniards.
It is terribly difficult to talk of Catalunya’s fight for self-determination without being extremely well versed in Spanish history and modern politics, I would know. I have been fortunate enough to spend significant time in Spain, both Madrid and Barcelona, yet still find myself being unable to articulate a clear, well defined position on Catalan independence. Madrid has the right to enact Article 155 and they have; from their point of view, I would be hard pressed to think Catalunya’s actions are not “seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain.” Finally, I do not see a correlation between Orbán’s actions in Hungary that have been described as being that of a stealth authoritarian and the actions taken by Rajoy and Madrid. Rajoy is invoking the Spanish Constitution to protect the general interests of the Spanish people while the former changes the nature of the game to justify the end. If Catalans are to vote for independence, it must be after the Spanish constitution is ratified so that the vote is officially recognized by Madrid and the outcome honored. Until then, shouldn’t Catalans continue to engage in the necessary political discourse to make that happen? A democracy should listen.
I enjoyed this argument because it acknowledged that the Spanish government’s actions in Catalonia have the appearance of authoritarian tendencies, but they do not necessarily remove Spain’s classification as a democracy. As we now know, the Spanish government did indeed choose to invoke Article 155 of the constitution, dissolve the Catalan parliament, and hold new regional elections. While this is an extraordinary and unprecedented use of the central government’s power, it has for now seemed to have worked in Madrid’s favor.
The argument’s focus on stealth authoritarianism is excellent, as it seems to be the issue of most concern in this instance. And while I think it is well explained how the Spanish government is using institutions such as the courts to advance its agenda, I think it is a mistake not to include the reasoning for the central government and the court’s opinions. Article 2 of the Spanish Constitution states that “The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards; it recognizes and guarantees the right to self government of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed and the solidarity among them all.” The central government and courts interpret this as stating that the Spanish state cannot be broken, at least not without approval form the majority of the people. But while Article 2 is a constitutional provision, it highlights, as does Article 155, how easy it can be for the state to commit stealth authoritarian actions. I do believe the argument made does well to show how constitutional provisions can be abused as the government claims to be defending democracy.
“Spain 1978 (rev.2011).” Constitute, https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Spain_2011?lang=en.