This book, the first study of Catalan nationalism to appear in English, outlines the history of Catalonia, showing how the national and cultural identity of the region persisted despite persecution. This provides the necessary background for the analysis of the contemporary political and cultural situation in Catalonia in the wider context of the European Union.

Table of Contents

From the origins of Catalonia to the 18th century; the political provincialization and economic growth of Catalonia in the 18th and 19th centuries; Catalan federalism and the failure of the First Republic; the first Catalanist political organizations; Conservative Catalinism and the Republicanism of Lerroux; from Solidaritat Catalana to the Catalan Mancomunitat; the Mancomunitat and the predominance of Conservative Catalanism under the Primo de Rivera dictatorship; the generalitat under the Second Republic and the statute of self-government; the crisis of Catalan self-governing system; the vicissitudes of the Catalan Autonomous Government during the Civil War; exile and clandestinity (1939-1950); from the 1951 strike to the Catalinist challenge of 1960; the Catalanist cultural regime under the Franco regime; the Catalan opposition to the Franco regime between 1962 and 1975; Catalonia during the transition to democracy and self-government; the development of Catalan self-government from 1980 to 1990.