ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the place and influence of civil associations within the overall drive for Catalan independence. It begins with a brief analysis of the shifts that have taken place in the last decade, during which independence has unexpectedly come to dominate the political agenda thanks to a change in the focus of Catalan nationalism. The association between Catalan civil society and Catalan nationalism has traditionally been stressed as being crucially important whenever Catalans have been denied political power, during periods of authoritarian Spanish rule. A close look at the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) reveals both its inner multidimensionality and its place within an independence movement that is of course itself multidimensional. Intellectuals and cultural practitioners have been a driving force in Catalanism throughout its history, even though the existence of autonomous political institutions since 1980 has meant that party-political machinations have somewhat overshadowed their role.
