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STATE BUILDING AND NATIONAL IDENTITY.
CENTRE-PERIPHERY RELATIONS IN SPAIN (1876-1945)
dos ——
JULIO PONCE ALBERCA
ABSTRACT
The 19"-century state-building process is well known, and the role played in
the process by the development of national identities is likewise recognised.
Many cases reflect the existence of some kind of national identity predating
statehood, mainly based on language, traditions and customs originating
in years of life in common. Yet there is no doubting the key role of the state
in forging the cohesion of national communities. The successful effects
of such action can be verified in states in which a sense of national pride
was instilled in most of the population (Britain and its empire). Yet similar
feelings were present in other countries despite less-than-satisfactory state¬
building processes. In this paper we aim to analyse the case of Spain to verify
whether the state-building process (and its local administration) fostered the
emergence of national identities at the regional level.
Keywords: state-building, nation, identity, Spain, 19" and 20" century history
INTRODUCTION
There can be little doubt that the concept of ‘nation’ is hugely important
to a number of social sciences, as shown by even a cursory glance at the
vast literature concerning nation building, national sentiment, purported
identities resulting from membership in a given community (or ‘nation’)
or the proliferation of nationalist movements. Historical studies have been
particularly fertile in this area, among other reasons because any nationalism
worth its salt rests on an ad hoc interpretation of a community’s past to
justify its present and future ambitions. Spain is no exception to this trend.
A search of the Spanish ISBN database yields hundreds of titles including
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