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NATIONALISM AND NATION-BUILDING IN SPAIN (1875—1939)
From all we have said up to this point we can draw certain conclusions.
Spain was not isolated, but instead was influenced by a variety of international
trends, and above all European models, in its national identity construction
during the 19" century, in the intensification of these processes at the
beginning of the 20‘ century and in the many conflicts that developed in
the interwar period. It is, then, not an exceptional case in the European
context but one more among a very varied body of national examples. By the
1930s, the majority of the Spanish population were ‘nationalized’ in terms of
identification with the nation, although internal divisions, as demonstrated
by the range of potential alternative national symbols, were profound:
between Spanish nationalists of different tendencies (such as civic republican
liberalism and Catholic nationalism), and between state nationalists and sub¬
state nationalists, especially in Catalonia and the Basque Country. To quote
the subsequent words of Juan J. Linz, one could say that Spain was “a state for
all Spaniards, a nation-state for a large part of the population, and only a state
but not a nation for important minorities”.'?
The Spanish case demonstrates that in studying processes of national
identity construction one has to take into account, alongside the actions of
the state, the actions of civil society. Equally, too, it shows us the way in which
nationalization can follow an oscillating path, and sometimes turn back on
itself, and the way that nationalization does not necessarily mean homogeneity,
but can signify something more complex, within which different national and
regional identities co-exist.
REFERENCES
ALVAREZ-JUNCO, José: Spanish Identity in the Age of Nations, Manchester,
Manchester University Press, 2011.
Ho.euin, Sandie: Creating Spaniards: Culture and National Identity in
Republican Spain, Madison, Wisconsin University Press, 2002.
JuLiA, Santos: “Anomalia, dolor y fracaso de Espafia”, Claves de Razôn
Practica, Vol. 66, 1996, 10-21.
Linz, Juan J.: “Early State-Building and Late Peripheral Nationalisms against
the State: the Case of Spain”, in S. N. Eisenstadt — Stein Rokkan (eds.):
Building States and Nations. Analyses by Region, Beverly, Sage, 1973, 31¬
116.
MoLiNA, Fernando — VILLAVERDE, Miguel Cabo: “An Inconvenient Nation:
Nation-Building and National Identity in Modern Spain. The Historio¬
2 Juan J. Linz: Early State-Building and Late Peripheral Nationalisms against the State:
the Case of Spain, in S.N. Eisenstadt — Stein Rokkan (eds.): Building States and Nations.
Analyses by Region, Beverly, Sage, 1973, 31-116, quoted from 99.
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