Although the Catalan Question dominated Spanish politics between 1901 and 1923, and the Lliga, considered the first modern political party in Spain, played a prominent role in those debates, little literature exists on this movement's overall political complexities. The Lliga has often been considered simplistically: as the party of the Catalan bourgeoisie that failed to protect its class interest by democratic means, as a conservative party which failed to achieve a nationalist aim, or as a nationalist party that failed to impose itself on Spanish politics. But the Lliga was none of these. It was a movement with a coherent ideology: regionalism. The Lliga sought to restore Catalonia by winning the region autonomy from the central state, and then to use Catalonia as a springboard to regenerate all of Spain. What distinguished this political party was precisely this double goal. This thesis presents the Lliga in the way it saw itself and its contemporaries saw it, within the context of Catalan and Spanish politics, and probes the causes of its failure. This thesis examines perceptions of the movement - both from within and without - to determine the reasons for its failure to achieve concord in Spain, despite (or because of) the enormous success it had in pressing forward its agenda in Catalonia and influencing the course of Spanish politics. The very success of the movement opened the way for its ultimate downfall. The thesis investigates the vocabulary, logistics, and motivations of the Lliga's program and the political mobilization in favor of and opposed to the Regionalists. The Lliga's program grew from nineteenth-century political theory, but it was the work of a particular group of young men who provided the transition to a substantial political movement. Their own motivations are considered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:618370 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Ehrlich, Charles Edward |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b5b85186-6dd8-4b70-bb24-03ca68f846ad |
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