News and opinion

Catalan regional election took place on Sunday (14 February) with pro-independence parties increasing their overall majority. This election saw the lowest turnout on record, but this does not take away from the constitutional significance of the vote. CCC's Daniel Cetrà and Michael Keating give their views. 

From their recently published article, Judith Sijstermans (University of Birmingham) and Coree Brown Swan (Centre on Constitutional Change) examine how European sub-state nationalist parties, specifically the Flemish Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) and the Scottish National Party (SNP), provided support and solidarity throughout the 2017 Catalan referendum.

In this, our last installment from our collaboration with H-Nationalism, Patrick Utz (University of Edinburgh) explores national identities in South Tyrol in the 20th and 21st century. 

Judith Sijsterman details how the Flemish sub-state approach has incorporated populist narratives and how this populist turn has led to the adoption of an identitarian approach.

Daniel Cetrà provides an update three years after the Catalonian Independence Referendum and asks what might Scottish Unionists and nationalists learn from the Catalan experience?

Jean-François Dupré discusses recent events in Hong Kong, where the central government has undertaken to impose its National Security Law (NSL). What is the likely impact on the democracy movement and Hong Kong's constitution?

What is the purpose of institutions in multinational states? Drawing on the experience of Quebec and Canada, Karlo Basta, University of Edinburgh, examines institutions as symbols, expressing specific visions of the state and the nature of the community it encompasses. 

Judith Sijstermans, University of Birmingham, highlights the disjointed approach taken by the United States in the COVID-19 crisis, exploring how the pandemic has enabled Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, to promote the state's autonomous role in domestic and foreign politics. 

CCC Fellows Coree Brown Swan and Daniel Cetrá's co-edited special issue has been published State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States. This comes after a CCC international workshop last February and our Majority Nationalism blog series last April/May.