Autonomous Communities in Spain: Nationalities and Regions
The Territorial and Institutional Projection of the Peoples of Spain
Cultural Value of Nationalities, Regions, and Autonomy
Meaning of Nationalities and Regions and Their Connection to Autonomy
- Legal Point of View: Article 2 states, “… The Spanish nation is composed of nationalities and regions… The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation and recognizes and guarantees the right to autonomy of nationalities and regions that make it up…” The Spanish nation is understood as indivisible and indissoluble, placing that socio-historical formation as the supreme political community that integrates different configurations: nationalities and regions. Autonomy refers to a limited power that is not sovereign and, therefore, cannot oppose the principle of unity.
- Conceptual Requirements: Section 143.1 defines nationalities and regions as communities of people with a dual dimension: ideal (historical, cultural, and economic) and material (the territory, primarily multi-provincial). Autonomy, as stated in Article 143.1, applies to “bordering provinces with common historical, cultural, and economic characteristics, island territories, and provinces with historical regional status…”
For a nationality or region to exist, it must fulfill at least three characteristics: historical, economic, and cultural. These logically imply historical experience (metaphorically referring to local authorities as entities with their own politico-administrative past). Culture, as a common feature of certain groups of people, represents an “ethnic notion of culture,” an identical match in terms of the symbolic and communicative, based on the historical experience of living together that can be seen both from inside and out.
Excursus on the Distinction Between Nationalities and Regions
First Sign: Increased Intensity of Cultural and Historical Factors in Nationalities
As seen, the generic and undifferentiated notion of nationality and region in the Constitution is that of a territorial community, usually multi-provincial or insular, with historical, cultural, and economic conditions which, in the exercise of the right to autonomy, may become a self-governing region. The most distinctive factor is cultural. The Constitution acknowledges the existence of a plurality of languages in Spain, named “Spanish” and “languages of Spain,” which exist in some parts alongside the common language, Castilian. It also promotes the teaching of the language of the Autonomous Community (Article 148.1.17), reflecting the cultural diversity of the peoples of Spain. History is a differentiating factor between nationality and region, with greater intensity in the former and less in the latter. Many authors assume that what characterizes national versus regional formation is a more pronounced historical and cultural personality. Communities are defined by cultural or historical factors.
Second Clue: Different Intensity of Self-Expression in Regional and Nationalitarian Processes
The Constitution of 1978 did not draw the map of the nationalities and regions that make up the existing Spanish nation, nor that of the Autonomous Communities that could be constituted. It designed an open system for the creation of Autonomous Communities, consisting of two basic procedural channels for regional initiative (Article 143 and Article 151.1) and two correlative procedures for the preparation of the Autonomy Statute (Article 146 and Article 151.2). The deliberate vagueness in the Constitution regarding the map of nationalities and regions prompted regional initiatives through statements of will, which we call “autonomous self,” an additional requirement in the constitutional notion of citizenship and regions.