What Comes After Spain’s Identity Crisis?

Mariano Rajoy chooses his words carefully. He’s the prime minister who refused to use the term “bailout,” insisting instead that the financial rescue Spain received in 2012 was “a loan with very favorable terms.” On Oct. 21, responding to the crisis over Catalonia’s bid for independence, Rajoy invoked Article 155, a provision of the Spanish constitution never used before that allows Madrid to strip regional governments of their autonomy in times of crisis. He maintained that he was not suspending Catalan autonomy, even as he proposed removing from office the entire Catalan executive body, transferring their duties to corresponding Spanish ministries, and calling new elections in the region within six months. His decision was greeted by many Spaniards as a welcome return to the rule of law and by many Catalans as nothing short of a coup d’état.

One thing is clear: As its politicians engage in face-saving, bluff-calling, and other machinations, and citizens on all sides anxiously hold their breath, Spain is careening through the most severe constitutional crisis of its recent democratic history. But it isn’t just constitutional; it’s also, perhaps more profoundly, a crisis of identity. Nations derive their cohesion and their strength from a sense of shared identity—from the story they tell themselves about who they are as a collective. When that sense of a shared story is eroded, the nation frays. [On Oct. 27, the Catalan parliament voted to set up an independent republic, in a session boycotted by opposition parties.]