The process of nation-state building in Spain, from the beginning of the nineteenth century to Franco's authoritarian regime (1939-75), was sunk into disorder and confusion which was manifested in four civil wars and numerous military revolts. Moreover, during forty three years of this century, Spain had been under dictatorship. One of the principal reasons that nation-state building was not successful in Spain is the absence of a national identity and history resulting from its multilingual and multicultural character. The peripheral regionalisms against the state raised first in Catalonia and next in the Basque country at the end of last century were influential in this respect.
In this article, the author aims to investigate the internal integration of Spain after 1975 through the strategy and movement of the Catalan regionalist party CiU (Convergència i Unió) founded in 1978. During 1980's the CiU did not persist in the framework of nation-state and developed its diplomatic actions as if Catalonia were a state. By contrast, the Socialist Party, which came to power in 1982, repeatedly issued warning to the CiU emphasizing the importance of the existing nation-state system. The latter half of the 1980's marked the climax of the antagonism between the CiU and the Socialist Party.
The general election of 1993, in which the Socialist Party lost its majority, changed the situation completely. To stay in power, ultimately, the Socialist Party had to be supported by two regionalist parties, the CiU and the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party). As a result, both parties used this opportunity to cast votes for their aims. After the general election, the Socialist Party began to negotiate with them to make a blueprint of the new internal intgration of Spain.
Though it is too early to make predictions about the future of the nation-state in Spain, its significance must be diminished as long as the CiU, associating with the PNV, continues to keep gaining votes.
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