New dog, old tricks: strategic moderation after failed secession in the Catalan nationalist right

2026/02/17 by Manuel Alvariño, Llorenç Soler-Buades, Pau Torres · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Political Systems and Governance #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics

paper · doi:10.1080/21622671.2026.2621738

openalex publication_date 2026/02/17 · openalex created_date 2026/02/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

We know far more about why substate parties embrace secession than about their eventual moderation. This article contributes to this question by tracing Catalan nationalist centre-right parties across five decades through a mixed-method analysis of electoral programmes, parliamentary behaviour and public opinion. Limits to negotiated devolution and political competition explain the secessionist turn of Convergència i Unió (CiU) since 2010, then rebranded as Junts. Yet, Junts has recently shifted from unilateral independence attempts to negotiated devolution and issue diversification. This case illustrates how secessionist parties may moderate after failed secession if institutional opportunities and the party competition context change.

Citations

• Ethnic outbidding and nested competition: Explaining the extremism of ethnonational minority parties in Europe
• Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared
• Adaptation or inflexibility? Niche party responsiveness to policy competition, with evidence from regionalist parties
• Care at the Crossroads: How Policy Feedback Shaped Competing Feminist Advocacy for Parental Leave Reform in Spain
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Discussions

• We know a lot about why substate nationalist parties embrace secession. But what happens when secession fails? Can they return to ordinary parliamentary politics? Our new paper on Catalan CiU and Jun [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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