ABSTRACT

Early twenty-first-century Spain, simultaneously a nation, a nation-state, and a multinational polity, is immersed in a systemic crisis in which “democracy,” “people,” and “nation” are discussed and contested political concepts. This chapter analyzes the role of the intersection between populism and nationalism within contemporary Spanish history. It provides an introductory background about previous experiences in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Then it focuses on the two cases where this relationship is clearer within the Spanish crisis framework: the Podemos phenomenon and the Catalonian procès towards secession. Both of them present a contrast between an imperfect, exclusionary, and even unreal present democracy, on the one hand, and a civic, inclusive, fresh and really democratic future in which “people’s empowerment” and collective fulfillment plays a crucial role. While Catalonia offers a classic example for debates on how is democracy possible within a “clash of nationalisms” and “competing nations” scenario, the Podemos case, including its regional (or “inter-national”) alliances with non-Spanish nationalist parties, poses core questions about plurinationality and civic Spanish nationalism.