The role of political parties in shaping citizens’ political preferences for the territorial organization of the state: the Spanish case

Abstract

This article discusses how nationalist regional and state-wide parties, responding to different sub-national party systems dynamics, contribute similarly to interregional and individual public opinion disagreements about the model of the state in new, successfully decentralized democracies. Using individual survey data and other regional-level aggregate measures to perform a multilevel analysis in the 17 Spanish regions, we will show that both types of parties (non-and state-wide parties), following certain sub-national party system dynamics, are a very important influential and conditional factor in explaining the individual preferences adopted by citizens regarding the model of the state, despite the generally positive evaluation of the performance of new decentralized institutions by a large majority of Spaniards. These different positions are producing a persistent inter-individual conflict among Spaniards that have also a strong interregional component.

Economic expectations and support for secession in Catalonia: between causality and rationalization

“…As Torcal and Mota (2013) have shown for the Spanish case, political party effects are key for the formation of citizens' preferences for the territorial organization of the state. According to their analysis, partisanship with nationalist regional parties favours preferences for decentralization, and the effect is contingent not only on voters' national identification but also on the characteristics of the party system, especially the overall presence of non-state wide parties in the system, that makes the decentralization issue more salient.…”

Corruption and support for decentralisation

“…Finally, previous research has also highlighted the role of party politics (Amat 2012;Brancati 2006;Guinjoan & Rodon 2014;Torcal & Mota 2013;Toubeau & Wagner 2016). Political parties, both at the central and at the regional level, can structure public opinion by putting issues of decentralisation on the political agenda, by making decentralisation salient and by framing and reinterpreting it (Riker 1990).…”

“…They do so by 'reinforcing ethnic and regional identities, producing legislation that causes certain groups to feel threatened in a country, and mobilising groups to engage in ethnic conflict and secessionism or supporting terrorist organisations that participate in these activities' (Brancati 2006: 656). Using representative survey data from Spain, Torcal & Mota (2013) find that both national and regional parties influence preferences for the territorial organisation of the state. Guinjoan & Rodon (2014) show that in Spanish regions without a different subnational identity, political parties can effectively stir support for decentralisation among voters.…”

“…Firstly, it provides a new theoretical framework by highlighting the importance of low quality of governance at different geographical levels of government. With the exception of Guinjoan & Rodon (2014) who see support for decentralisation as endogenous to the political system, extant research has almost exclusively focused on collective identity (Liñeira & Cetra 2015, Maio et al 2003Serrano 2013), economic considerations (Balcells et al 2015;Beramendi 2012;Muñoz & Tormos 2015) and party politics (Amat 2012;Brancati 2006;Torcal & Mota 2013;Toubeau & Wagner 2016) as main explanations for decentralisation preferences. Our approach brings political factors back in, and it challenges the conventional view that claims for decentralisation and independence are limited to regions that are economic and/or cultural outliers vis-à-vis the rest of the state.…”

El elector federalista catalán como solución (parcial) al reto independentista

“…Por otro lado, la visión institucionalista ayudaría a entender el rol que poseen los partidos nacionalistas para moldear y condicionar los cambios en la opinión pública (Torcal y Chibber, 1995;Elias, 2015). Estos, como organizaciones importantes que influyen en la construcción de valores e ideas de los ciudadanos (Montero y Günther, 2002), tienen la capacidad de formar preferencias en temas tales como la organización territorial del estado (Torcal y Mota, 2014), la descentralización territorial (Fernández-Albertos y Lago, 2015) o la secesión (Elias, 2018). Como han señalado Muñoz y Tormos (2015) para el caso catalán, los ciudadanos recurrirían a la heurística de los partidos políticos para superar las dificultades a la hora de evaluar los costos y beneficios de una posible independencia.…”