Nationalism, Emotions and Independence

The secessionist crisis of Catalonia is the most important challenge that faces the Spanish democracy since its creation, and represents a case of high relevance to understand political discontent in the European context. The prominence of national identity, the persistence of economic distress, the use of social media, and a strong political polarisation are all elements that includes this case as part of other similar disruptions registered in other European democracies. From a constructivist perspective of nationalism, in this paper we analyze the construction of Catalan national identity, on the basis of the confirmation of the increase in nationalist sentiment among citizens, and focusing on the role that emotions have played in the conflict, and lately in the political and electoral behaviour of Catalans. However, and similarly as in other European conflicts, conventional survey analysis has not been enough to explain the scale and the roots of discontent; we will work with our own data, a postelectoral study, that measures the emotions of Catalans towards political leaders and parties, and the influence of those in the electoral decision process.