ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the various political arguments used by Catalan secessionism to support its claims to independence, taking into account the theories put forward by international law scholars and other secessionist processes. The concept of secession or, more accurately, State creation through secession, allows us – as we have pointed out – to distinguish it from other forms of accession to statehood, such as separation or union, and also from another form of State creation, that of decolonisation, situated in a different context. Proposed secessions include, in our immediate setting, the one put forward by certain political forces and sectors of society in the Spanish region of Catalonia in 2014. The chapter discusses substantive issues such as the problems posed by the lack of effectiveness of the material elements of statehood in the specific case of Catalonia as well as its recognition by States and international organizations after dealing with these preliminary matters.
