ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to offer an account of the re-emergence of Catalan nationalism during the Francoist regime, and to study the process which led to the democratisation of Spain after Franco’s death in 1975. The key theme underlying this analysis concerns the distinction between two different meanings ascribed to nationalism, on the one side by Franco and his supporters who almost immediately after their insurrection against the legitimate government of the Second Spanish Republic called themselves ‘nationals’; and on the other, by Catalans, Basques and other national minorities included within the Spanish state’s territory. I do not want to suggest that all state nationalisms lead to totalitarian, anti-democratic regimes, as was the case with Francoism. Instead, I focus on two recurrent features of these nationalisms: the defence of homogeneity against diversity and pluralism, implying very little if any acknowledgement of national minorities, and the differing access to power and resources of state nationalisms compared with nationalisms of nations without a state.
