Nationalism, Liberalism and Language in Catalonia and Flanders

216 Pages·2019·3.028 MB·

by  Daniel Cetrà

COMPARATIVE TERRITORIAL POLITICS
Nationalism, Liberalism
and Language in
Catalonia and Flanders
Daniel Cetrà
Comparative Territorial Politics
Series Editors
Michael Keating
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, UK
Arjan H. Schakel
Maastricht University
Maastricht, The Netherlands
Michaël Tatham
University of Bergen
Bergen, Norway
Territorial politics is one of the most dynamic areas in contemporary
political science. Rescaling, new and re-emergent nationalisms, regional
devolution, government, federal reform and urban dynamics have
reshaped the architecture of government at sub-state and transnational
levels, with profound implications for public policy, political competition,
democracy and the nature of political community. Important policy fields
such as health, education, agriculture, environment and economic devel-
opment are managed at new spatial levels. Regions, stateless nations and
metropolitan areas have become political arenas, contested by old and
new political parties and interest groups. All of this is shaped by transna-
tional integration and the rise of supranational and international bodies
like the European Union, the North American Free Trade Area and the
World Trade Organization. The Comparative Territorial Politics series
brings together monographs, pivot studies, and edited collections that
further scholarship in the field of territorial politics and policy, decentral-
ization, federalism and regionalism. Territorial politics is ubiquitous and
the series is open towards topics, approaches and methods. The series
aims to be an outlet for innovative research grounded in political science,
political geography, law, international relations and sociology. Previous
publications cover topics such as public opinion, government formation,
elections, parties, federalism, and nationalism. Please do not hesitate to
contact one of the series editors in case you are interested in publishing
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posal, preferably an introduction chapter explaining the rationale and the
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More information about this series at
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Daniel Cetrà
Nationalism,
Liberalism and
Language in Catalonia
and Flanders
Daniel Cetrà
University of Aberdeen and Centre
on Constitutional Change
Edinburgh, UK
Comparative Territorial Politics
ISBN 978-3-030-08273-4 ISBN 978-3-030-08274-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-08274-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965778
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
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A
cknowledgements
Over the years, I have accumulated sizable debts to colleagues and
friends. I am especially grateful to Jonathan Hearn, Wilfried Swenden,
David McCrone and Jimmy Kennedy—each of whom offered support,
encouragement and penetrating critical feedback on several occasions.
I also owe debts of gratitude to Michael Keating, Helder De Schutter,
Robert Liñeira, Rudi Janssens, Sergi Morales-Gálvez, Ivan Serrano, Marc
Sanjaume and Kasper Swerts—they generously sent me written feedback
on chapter drafts and discussed the book’s ideas with me.
I am enormously grateful to the Université de Liège for funding
my fieldwork in Belgium and to the whole team at the Spiral Research
Centre for their support and kindness. I am especially grateful to Hugues
Renard for his assistance and hospitality and, above all, for taking me to
Standard de Liège matches.
I would like to thank many colleagues who generously discussed
aspects of this book and offered suggestions, assistance and encour-
agement. Philippe Van Parijs, Jérémy Dodeigne, Linda Cardinal,
Bettina Petersohn, Eve Hepburn, Min Reuchamps, Bernard Yack,
Esma Baycan, Juan Jiménez Salcedo, Klaus-Jürgen Nagel, Liliana Riga,
Frédéric Claisse, Marc Jacmain, Pierre Verjans, Raf Geenens, Michael
Jewkes, Jean-François Gregoire, Els Witte, Rémi Léger, Till Burckhardt,
Coree Brown Swan, Nicola McEwen, Clare de Mowbray, Albert
Branchadell, Ignasi Vila, Xavier Vila i Moreno, Andrew Shorten, Alix
Dassargues. I also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for Palgrave
Macmillan for offering very insightful and constructive feedback, and
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
all my interviewees for their great disposition. I am also grateful to the
Territorial Politics Research Group at the University of Edinburgh and
audiences at various academic conferences.
My friends inside and outside of academia, only some of whom I am
able to name here, kept me happy and sane throughout this intellec-
tual journey. For offering emotional support and much-needed distrac-
tions, I am deeply grateful to David Martí, Ceren Şengül, Eirik ‘Viking’
Fuglestad, Shruti Chaudhry, everyone at the Centre on Constitutional
Change, Erin Hughes, Gëzim Krasniqi, Marie-Eve Hamel, Nonna
Gorilovskaya, Neşe Karahasan, Lisa Kalayji, Elvira Prado, Katherine
Baxter, Alexandra Remond, the School of Social and Political Science
football team, Hugo Coves, Martí Puigbó, Marc Bassols, Gerard Galbete
and all the members of the Barcelona-based ‘Xunga Gang’.
This book is dedicated to my family and to Mariola.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Revisiting Liberal Nationalism 11
3 The Politics of Language and Nationalism 31
4 Nationalism in Catalonia and Flanders 55
5 The Catalan Linguistic Dispute 87
6 The Flemish Linguistic Dispute 125
7 Debating within Liberal Nationalism 169
8 Conclusion: Speaking for the Nation 193
Index 205
vii
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 2.1 Liberal nationalism in the liberal-communitarian debate 19
Fig. 3.1 Dutch speaking territories 35
Fig. 3.2 Catalan speaking territories 35
Fig. 3.3 Positions in the linguistic justice debate 41
Fig. 6.1 The Flemish Periphery 126
Fig. 6.2 The electoral district of BHV 134
ix
l t
ist of Ables
Table 2.1 Conceptual framework 12
Table 5.1 The discursive defence of the system 100
Table 5.2 The discursive opposition to the system 110
xi