Catalan Separatism: Causes and Prospects

Spain is a multi-ethnic state, which is home to large ethnic and cultural minorities, making up one-fifth of the total kingdom’s population. Classic problem of the Kingdom of Spain, which has been observed for centuries, is the phenomenon of the deep national people’s consciousness. The constant struggle of ethnic and cultural minorities for the expansion of their autonomy rights realizes itself in the Spanish administrative structure expressed in autonomous communities with independence in policy. At the same time, the extensive autonomy rights’ existence hasn’t solved the problem of the national consciousness and separatist movements of minorities’ growth. Catalonia remains the most troubled autonomous community, whose population and government seek to separate from the Kingdom of Spain and create their own sovereign state.