Catalonia's attempt to break away from Spain at the end of 2017 captured international attention.
However, rather than lead to the creation of the world's newest country,
the effort to unilaterally secede was a disastrous failure.
In this video I'm going to look at how Catalonia tried to declare independence from Spain
and why Catalonia's leaders got it so very wrong.
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Hello. Welcome to Independent Thinking.
A channel dedicated to international relations, statehood, independence and the origins of countries.
My name is James Ker-Lindsay.
All around the world there are territories are trying to break away from countries
and form their own independent states.
However, few such efforts have captured as much interest in recent years as Catalonia.
Its attempt to secede from Spain in late 2017 was the focus of global attention.
The unilateral declaration of independence was covered like by many international news organizations.
However, rather than lead to the formation of the world's newest country,
the effort to form a new state quickly collapsed.
The question many observers asked was how could it have failed so spectacularly.
The Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia lies at the northeast corner of the Iberian Peninsula,
immediately south of France.
It is one of 19 autonomous communities or territories that make up Spain.
With 7.4 million people it Spain's second most populous province.
It's also the country's wealthiest region.
It is estimated that accounts for over a quarter of Spain's exports.
Like other parts of Spain, such as the Basque Country, the region has had
a long history of pro-independence movements.
However. the story really begins in June 2010 when the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that elements
of the 2006 Spanish law granting greater autonomy to Catalonia were unconstitutional.
A demonstration against the decision held two weeks later attracted over a million protesters.
Two years after that, on the 11 September 2012, Catalonia's national day,
there was another mass protest.
This time numbers were estimated in the region of one and a half million people.
In an election that followed, pro-independence parties emerged victorious, with the result of in early 2013
they passed a declaration on Catalonia's right to decide on its future.
In 2014, the Catalan government announced it intended to hold a referendum on independence.
However, any moves towards independence was strongly opposed by the Spanish national government.
It flatly refused to either grant permission for a vote or to enter any discussions on independence.
At the same time, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that the planned referendum
would in fact be unconstitutional.
In November 2014, the Catalan government changed course.
Instead of holding a formal referendum on independence, it organized a non-binding vote
asking people whether they wanted Catalonia to become a state,
and, if so, whether that state should be independent?
Of the 42% of the Catalan population that voted,
81% said they wanted Catalonia to become a fully independent country.
Following another general election in 2015, the Catalan leadership announced that they intended
to hold another vote on independence.
Despite strong opposition from the Spanish government, which sent in police to try and stop the voting,
this referendum was held on 1October 2017.
This time, support for statehood was 92% on a 43% turnout.
Ten days later, on 10 October 2017, the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont,
declared Catalonia was independent.
However, he immediately suspended the declaration pending further negotiations with Spain.
However, Madrid refused to engage in any dialogue.
As a result, on 27 October, the Catalan Parliament passed a resolution unilaterally declaring independence
from Spain and announcing the formation of the Republic of Catalonia
Despite hopes that some countries might be willing to recognize the new Catalan state, none did.
In fact, many countries including Spain's EU partners immediately issued statements insisting
that they would only continue to deal with the Spanish government.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Government took immediate action to put an end to the attempted secession.
Under the terms of the Spanish Constitution, it suspended Catalonia's autonomy
and imposed direct rule.
At the same time, arrest warrants were issued against Catalonia's pro-independence leaders,
with the result that several of the main ringleaders fled the country.
Within days, the effort to create an independent state had completely collapsed.
So why did it fail?
There are two immediate answer.
Firstly, Catalonia's effort to break away from Spain was a failure because there was never any realistic prospect
that it would be recognized internationally.
Ultimately, it was merely a symbolic move that could never go anywhere.
The international community has a strong aversion to recognizing unilateral acts of secession.
Many countries face their own separatist issues and so don't want to be seen to endorse
unilateral acts of secession elsewhere.
Even if there was a degree of sympathy for Catalonia's cause, and Spain's heavy-handed actions
during the 2017 referendum came in for widespread international criticism,
there was never any realistic prospect that any country would have recognized Catalonia.
It was always going to be a hollow declaration.
Secondly Catalonia's leaders appear to given very little thought as to what they would do
once they had actually declared independence.
There are all sorts of questions that didn't seem to have adequate answers.
How did they realistically expect to put their independence into action?
For example, how would they have managed borders and immigration?
Even if they expected these things to be irrelevant in the context of EU membership,
they appear to have given no thought as to how they could operate as part of the European Union.
How could Catalonia become a member of the EU when Spain, another member, would be wholly opposed
to the acknowledgement of Catalonia statehood by the other members or by the EU institutions?
None of this appeared clear.
In retrospect, the huge mistake made by Catalonia's leaders was to put themselves into a position
whereby they felt they had no option but to declare independence.
They should never have painted themselves into such a corner.
While it's possible to understand the frustration that many may have felt about Spain's refusal
to discuss granting statehood, or even enter into dialogue on a possible independence process,
a unilateral declaration of independence was always destined to result in disaster.
It would have been far better to work slowly and convert those who may have been opposed to statehood
over to their side.
Indeed, there appears to be evidence that while many may not have wanted independence,
Spain's uncompromising response was winning converts over to the pro-independence cause.
Ultimately, therefore, Catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence was doomed from the start.
There was never any realistic prospect that it could have succeeded in the face of such strong opposition
from the Spanish government.
What few perhaps expected was that it would go ahead.
That said, it would be premature to say that the independence movement in Catalonia
has been defeated.
Although the numbers turning out for the protest of Catalonia's national day are markedly lower
than in previous years, polling suggests that support for statehood has not dropped significantly since 2017.
All things considered, it would seem that we've not heard the last of this story.
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