Papers by Carles Ferreira Torres
Ethnopolitics, 2024
By employing an experimental design in Catalonia and Scotland, the present article explores wheth... more By employing an experimental design in Catalonia and Scotland, the present article explores whether citizens' exposure to different pro-independence party frames helps shape people's attitudes to secession. The results indicate that individuals hold strong pre-existing beliefs on independence, and the way parties frame secession does not seem to influence public opinion. These insights suggest that secessionist parties might prioritise the attainment of vote and office goals over policy outcomes when choosing their rhetorical strategies. The findings have wider implications for the field of territorial party politics by showing the limits of secessionist parties' rhetoric in shaping policy preferences.
Nations and Nationalism, 2023
As the first cases of COVID-19 emerged in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom, they did so agai... more As the first cases of COVID-19 emerged in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom, they did so against a backdrop of heightened constitutional contestation. Capturing the period January 2020 to December 2021 which included three waves of the pandemic in each state and the delivery of vaccines, this article examines how state and sub-state nationalists articulated their constitutional preferences and territorial claims in the pandemic period. We particularly explore whether the crisis changed state and sub-state nationalists' territorial demands and how it was used to advance or bolster their territorial aspirations. We find that whilst the pandemic entailed an amplification of extant frames in favour of state dissolution and state integrity, the frames remained, broadly, similar between the pre-pandemic and pandemic period, suggesting that sub-state and state nationalist actors stick to a similar playbook, even at moments of profound crisis.
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 2023
By performing a manifesto content analysis, this article maps the discourse of secessionist parti... more By performing a manifesto content analysis, this article maps the discourse of secessionist parties on constitutional change cross-case (Belgium, Canada, Spain, and the UK) and over time (1990-2020). The results show that secessionist parties are pragmatic organizations that also advance devolutionist demands as a steppingstone toward full independence. Concerning framing, the results identify an increasing trend toward the articulation of a socioeconomic case for constitutional change. Political issues such as governance are also important. Instead, identity-based frames are much less prominent in their discourse. As strategic actors, secessionists take these decisions to enhance their position in the electoral market.
Party Politics, 2024
Under what conditions do secessionist parties advance identity, socioeconomic or political frames... more Under what conditions do secessionist parties advance identity, socioeconomic or political frames for constitutional change? By performing a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of 93 party manifestos from six Western regions, the results identify a key variable that plays an important role in rhetorical strategies: the governmental status of the party. In linguistically distinctive regions, parties tend to put forward identity frames when in opposition. Instead, being in office is a condition for framing their position in socioeconomic terms. The results concerning political frames are highly complex, although patterns around office holding have also been identified. Hence, the present article shows that office-seeking strategies imply a fundamental change in how these parties frame their claims. Minority nationalist parties take the opportunity of being in office to enhance their credibility as governing parties by downplaying identity issues in favour of a more inclusive and policy-oriented appeal.
Regional and Federal Studies, 2022
Why did the territorial conflict between the governments of Catalonia and Spain escalate to the p... more Why did the territorial conflict between the governments of Catalonia and Spain escalate to the point of extreme institutional disruption in October 2017? The present article explains this crisis – a declaration of independence followed by the imposition of direct rule – as the outcome of an Escalation of Commitment behaviour. By examining the iterative relationship between both governments, the article shows that they were trapped in a failing course of action, unable to withdraw from their early political decisions. Despite facing increasingly negative outcomes from their choices, both sides had already invested too much political capital to quit. Expectations and self-justification attitudes account for the escalation behaviour, together with a radicalized decision environment. The findings have broader implications for the study of nationalist politics: they show that the commitment to early decisions mediated by the existence of strong political incentives against compromise may lead to the escalation of territorial conflicts.
Revista Española de Ciencia Política, 2019
La irrupción de Vox en la política española ha suscitado un debate en torno a la propia naturalez... more La irrupción de Vox en la política española ha suscitado un debate en torno a la propia naturaleza ideológica de este nuevo partido. Este artículo aborda esta cuestión a través de un análisis cualitativo de contenido de sus programas electorales y discursos, basado en el método de la cadena causal. Los resultados muestran que Vox es una organización de ultraderecha, que se ajusta a las características de la familia de partidos de la derecha radical. Su ideología está basada en una combinación de nacionalismo y xenofobia (nativismo) y de una visión autoritaria de la sociedad, apegada a los valores de ley y orden. Este autoritarismo, sin embargo, no se manifiesta como voluntad de instaurar un régimen autocrático ni se hace uso de la violencia con fines políticos. Este matiz alejaría a Vox de los elementos más extremistas de la ultraderecha. Por otro lado, el nativismo es el elemento que diferencia a Vox de los partidos conservadores convencionales. Finalmente, cabe apuntar dos especificidades del representante en España de la derecha radical: primero, y a diferencia de muchos de sus homólogos en Europa, el populismo está muy poco presente en su discurso; la retórica de Vox es mucho más nacionalista que populista. En segundo lugar, mientras que muchos representantes de esta familia de partidos tratan de desdibujar sus postulados socioeconómicos para atraer a una base de votantes más amplia, Vox muestra desacomplejadamente una actitud claramente conservadora en temas como los valores tradicionales o una agenda económica de carácter neoliberal.
Revista d'Estudis Autonòmics i Federals - Journal of Self-Government, 2019
After the 2017 pro-independence referendum took place in Catalonia, many municipalities changed t... more After the 2017 pro-independence referendum took place in Catalonia, many municipalities changed the names of the streets to commemorate the event. In order to do so, in some cases the names related to the central state were removed, such as those related to the constitution or the king. By performing a frame analysis, this article explores how the majority nationalist parties, which identify themselves with the state, assessed this initiative made by the pro-independence local authorities. The paper thus offers new evidence to the existing literature on majority nationalism, a subject poorly studied in comparison with the total amount of research devoted to peripheral nationalism. On the basis of street naming as a nation-building tool, two are the main empirical contributions: firstly, the representatives of majority nationalism defended the symbols linked to the state as neutral and representative of the whole citizenry, while those of the minority group were framed as partisan and deeply divisive. On the other hand, we stress the importance of the democratic transition and the 1978 constitution as relevant rhetoric resources of the national narrative in contemporary Spain. keywords frame analysis; nationalism; nation-building; national identity.
Book Chapters by Carles Ferreira Torres
Identity and Nation in 21st Century Catalonia: El Procés, 2021
The contribution shows that the perception of using regional autonomy as means of fostering seces... more The contribution shows that the perception of using regional autonomy as means of fostering secessionism trigger centralising demands by the majority group in multinational states. It also critically examines the normative grounds upon these claims are constructed, which are based on the idea of neutrality.
Book Reviews by Carles Ferreira Torres
Regional and Federal Studies, 2022
Revista d'Estudis Autonòmics i Federals - Journal of Self-Government, 2020
Countless nationalist-related phenomena have occurred since Eric Hobsbawm wrote his largely quote... more Countless nationalist-related phenomena have occurred since Eric Hobsbawm wrote his largely quoted sentence "the owl of Minerva […] it's now circling around nations and nationalism "(1992: 192). The triumph of globalisation and liberal democracy would have opened a new era with little place for the so-called "identity politics". Nevertheless, as one of the editors of strategies of secession and counter-secession showed, we are living in an age of secession, or at least, an age of secessionist politics (Griffiths 2016). Since the 1990s, independence movements have attracted growing interest by scholars and policymakers around the globe, although the scholarship on the topic is yet far from comprehensive. In this regard, professors Ryan Griffiths and Diego Muro have brought together leading scholars in the fields of comparative politics and international relations to reflect on this topic.
Other by Carles Ferreira Torres
50 Shades of Federalism, 2020
Given the existence of distinct communities with different and often contradictory aspirations, m... more Given the existence of distinct communities with different and often contradictory aspirations, multinational states are used to witnessing some rivalry between the majority and the minority groups. This contribution explores the nation-building dynamics in this context, with a particular focus on the majority group's rhetoric. In this regard, the dominant nationalism identifies the status quo and the official symbols of the state as neutral, therefore accusing the nation-building efforts of the minority as partisan and divisive. Nevertheless, we know that both are trying to "nationalise" its citizens and gain support for their own nationalist cause. Drawing on the case of Spain to illustrate these remarks, I argue that the acknowledgement of this reality is the first step to settle a constitutional framework where both nationalisms can flourish and coexist.
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Papers by Carles Ferreira Torres
Book Chapters by Carles Ferreira Torres
Book Reviews by Carles Ferreira Torres
Other by Carles Ferreira Torres