ABSTRACT
As one of Europe’s most diverse nation-states, Spain would appear to be a prime candidate for a regional or federal structure. Within its territory of over 500,000 km2, there are a number of distinct regional cultures and widely spoken regional languages (notably Basque, Catalan and Galician). Significant numbers of Spanish citizens (particularly in the Basque country and Catalonia) do not regard themselves as Spanish, while in many other areas such as the Canaries, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and Valencia, regional identities remain strong. This is reflected politically in significant support for regionalist parties in all these territories. If this were not enough, the economic diversity of the Spanish peninsula also invites decentralisation, with the peripheral northern regions in particular being far more economically developed than the south and the centre. Such differences are not exclusive to any particular area of the Spanish peninsula, but are repeated across the territory; Spain is more of a sub-continent than a country.
