Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-15T02:14:25.493Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Repression and Dissent in Contemporary Catalonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2020

Laia Balcells Open the ORCID record for Laia Balcells [Opens in a new window] ,
Spencer Dorsey  and
Juan F. Tellez Open the ORCID record for Juan F. Tellez [Opens in a new window]
Laia Balcells*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington, DCUSA
Spencer Dorsey
Affiliation:
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Juan F. Tellez
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, Greenville, SC, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: laia.balcells@georgetown.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An extensive literature in political science and sociology has analyzed how state repression shapes attempts by social movements to pursue political objectives. Less studied, however, is the effect that state repression of activists has on the broader public. Understanding public responses to repression is important, as both states and social movements take action with an eye toward (de)mobilizing broader constituencies. This letter analyzes this dynamic in the context of contemporary Catalonia, where the Spanish state cracked down on efforts by Catalan activists to hold a public referendum on independence. Matching poll respondents in the months before and after the crackdown in late 2017, the study finds that repression increased public sympathy for independence for a short period, and heightened animosity towards actors perceived to be associated or complicit with the Spanish state. The findings speak to the potential for state repression of nonviolent movements to create windows of opportunity for broader mobilization.

Keywords

repressionsecessionSpainvictimizationviolencefederalism
Type
Letter
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , October 2021 , pp. 1742 - 1750
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balcells, K, Spencer, D and Tellez, JF (2020) “Replication Data for: Repression and Dissent in Contemporary Catalonia”, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KWS9UD, Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:5OZNokD20b7rMluelLg+Rg== [fileUNF].Google Scholar
Balcells, L (2013) Mass schooling and Catalan nationalism. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 19(4), 467–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balcells, L, Fernández-Albertos, J and Kuo, A (2020) Secession and Social Polarization. Working Paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balcells, L and Torrats-Espinosa, G (2018) Using a natural experiment to estimate the electoral consequences of terrorist attacks. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(42): 10624–10629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barceló, J (2018) Batons and ballots: the effectiveness of state violence in fighting against Catalan separatism. Research & Politics 5(2), 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beramendi, P (2012) The Political Geography of Inequality: Regions and Redistribution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (2017) Baròmetre d'Opinió Política. http://ceo.gencat.cat/ca/inici.Google Scholar
Chenoweth, E, Perkoski, E and Kang, S (2017) State repression and nonviolent resistance. Journal of Conflict Resolution 61(9), 1950–1969.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, C (2014) How Social Movements Die. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Mesquita, EB (2007) Politics and the suboptimal provision of counterterror. International Organization 61(1), 9–36.Google Scholar
Enos, RD, Kaufman, AR and Sands, ML (2018) Can violent protest change local policy support? Evidence from the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riot. American Political Science Review 113(4), 1012–1028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia, LB (2017) El contingente policial desplazado a Catalunya supera los 10.000 agentes [The police contingent sent to Catalonia exceeds 10,000 officers]. La Vanguardia. Available from https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20170928/431615842053/10000-agentes-policia-guardia-civil-catalunya-referendum-1-o.html.Google Scholar
García-Ponce, O and Pasquale, B (2019) How Political Repression Shapes Attitudes Toward the State: Evidence from Zimbabwe. Working Paper. Available from http://omargarciaponce.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/GarciaPonce_and_Pasquale_2014.pdf.Google Scholar
Guinjoan, M and Rodón, T (2017) L’1-O a anàlisi (2): La lògica de l'actuació policial [Analysis of 1-0: the logic of pólice action]. Nació Digital. Available from: https://www.naciodigital.cat/elpatidescobert/noticia/38/1-o/analisi/logica/actuacio/policial.Google Scholar
Henley, J (2018) EU still unmoved by Spain's standoff with Catalan separatists, The Guardian, 29 March.Google Scholar
Hess, D and Martin, B (2006) Repression, backfire, and the theory of transformative events. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 11(2), 249–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2017) Spain: Police Used Excessive Force in Catalonia. New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Iacus, SM and King, G (2012) How Coarsening Simplifies Matching-Based Causal Inference Theory. Working Paper.Google Scholar
Krause, P (2017) Rebel Power: Why National Movements Compete, Fight, and Win. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindemann, S and Wimmer, A (2018) Repression and refuge: why only some politically excluded ethnic groups rebel. Journal of Peace Research 55(3), 305–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, D (1986) Recruitment to high-risk activism: the case of freedom summer. American Journal of Sociology 92(1), 64–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muñoz, J and Tormos, R (2015) Economic expectations and support for secession in Catalonia: between causality and rationalization. European Political Science Review 7(2), 315–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, CM and Davenport, C (2018) Resistance is mobile: dynamics of repression, challenger adaptation, and surveillance in US ‘Red Squad’ and black nationalist archives. Journal of Peace Research 55(2), 175–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, J, Butcher, CR and Svensson, I (2014) Explaining political jiu-jitsu: institution-building and the outcomes of regime violence against unarmed protests. Journal of Peace Research 51(5), 559–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, E (2003) Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Balcells et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KWS9UD
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Balcells et al. supplementary material

Appendix

Download Balcells et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 151.7 KB