From nation‐building to building identification with political communities: Consequences of political decentralisation in Spain, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, 1978–2001

Abstract Many multiethnic polities suffer from a deficit of citizens' support for their political communities. Hence, their governments may think of political decentralisation as a solution. This article analyses the effects of that policy on citizens’ identification with their political communities in Spain: on identification with the Basque Country, Catalonia or Galicia (its most conspicuous ‘nationalities’) once they have become ‘autonomous communities’, and on identification with the overall Spanish political community. To study the processes of transformation of such attitudes, nation‐building theories are interpreted from the political socialisation approach and applied to the autonomous institutions. It is also suggested that the state strictu senso , by contrast, may be developing an alternative method of forging identification with its own political community. Survey time‐series evidence shows that although those autonomous communities are engaged successfully in a local but standard nation‐building, the whole political system may be fostering its own diffuse support by recognising and institutionalising cultural diversity and self‐government.