The Region as Essence of the Fatherland:Regionalist Variants of Spanish Nationalism(1840–1936)

Abstract

This article attempts to offer a comparative overview of the different regionalist discourses that, from the liberal revolution to the Civil War, have coexisted under the common banner of Spanish nationalism. Instead of their being considered merely as forerunners of stateless nationalisms, it is argued that no one-way evolution from the region to an alternative nation is acceptable. On the contrary, many political actors in Spanish history considered the promotion of regional identity and political regionalism to offer the best means of defending Spanish nationalism. Regionalism was shared by most traditionalist and most republican nationalists, while even among the theoreticians of authoritarian Spanish nationalism it was possible to find the idea that the region was the most ‘natural’ expression of the Spanish patria (fatherland). Nevertheless, regionalist discourse and mobilization also generated dynamics of mesoterritorial identity-formation which led to the articulation of peripheral nationalist discourse.