Subnational Governments and Regional Identities in Spain, 1980-2012
Keywords:
decentralization, Spain, subnational parties, identities, minority governmentsAbstract
This article examines the determinants of regional identifications in decentralized Spain. The main argument is that regional identifications change as a result of subnational parties’ mobilization strategies, and these depend in turn on the political competition context that they face. We rely on individual data from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas to show that exclusive identifications with Baleares, Canarias, Catalonia, Galicia, Navarra, and the Basque Country increase when subnational parties participate in government, but not when they are the only party in power or have an electoral support above the 40 percent of the votes. Moreover, regional identifications are also exacerbated when there are two parties with a similar electoral support competing within the nationalist bloc. Decentralization per se does not affect regional identifications if there are no subnational parties or, in other words, when there is not a strong regional cleavage.References
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