ABSTRACT
Catalan nationalism would seem to fit reasonably comfortably into the general category of Western nonstate nationalisms. True Spain had the appearance of a political anomaly to many observers from other Western societies. If, as it has often been claimed, nationalism is a potential inherent in all ethnic and/or linguistic collectivities, it is nevertheless quite evident that of the many possible candidates only a relatively small number have opted for the path of nationalism. There are many reasons why this should be so, but two sets of factors certainly facilitate the emergence or maintenance of nationalism: the presence of institutions and structures, developed over time, that strengthen group identity and aid mobilization; the establishment or definition of goals to which mobilization may be directed. In the century of absolutism each one having a distinct identity and a separate constitutional relationship to the Crown.
