Accounting for the turn towards secession in Catalonia

Since the mid-2000s, the Catalan secessionist movement has become a key protagonist in the territory’s political landscape, moving from the margins to become the axis of political dispute. This article contextualizes this change and argues that its emergence can be accounted for by a series of structural changes, which include the evolution of Catalonia’s weight within Spain, identity shifts and comparative economic decline. The discrediting of once dominant political ideologies has intensified following the post-2008 economic crisis, which has resulted in a moderate pro-independence movement successfully subsuming a full range of grievances.