Introduction

The economic crisis that began in 2008 has had a profound impact on European and other societies. Political responses have ranged from the convulsions of Greece to Britain's referendum to leave the European Union. Spain has been in one sense a place that has experienced a scale of responses given its own internal dynamics and semi-federal political system. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book seeks to explain how an accumulation of long-, medium- and short-term factors has produced the perfect storm in Catalonia. Catalan independence has become the last utopian project in Europe, the end point of a belief that transformative change is still possible and desirable. By 2012, support for independence was touching 50 per cent. The book also seeks to explain why it became the largest single political expression in contemporary Catalan society and one that is impossible to ignore.