Daniel Cetrà
Biographic Data
| ID | 4152067 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Daniel Cetrà |
| GIVEN NAMES | Daniel |
| FAMILY NAME | Cetrà |
| SIGNATURE | CETRÀ D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Aberdeen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2867-5339 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 144 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Nationalising Human Rights: British versus Scottish Perspectives
Human rights are universal but have historically been realised within the framework of the nation state. In recent decades, they have been articulated also at the supranational and sub-state levels. Both state nationalisms and sub-state nationalist movements have used human rights in order to establish legitimacy and liberal democratic tensions. In the United Kingdom, British nationalists have attacked the European Convention on Human Rights (ECH…
Judicial review and territorial conflicts: Evidence from Spain
Constitutional courts (CCs) in federal and quasi-federal systems are often expected to act as neutral arbiters in conflicts between levels of government. This article challenges that assumption by analysing the behavior of Spain’s Constitutional Court over four decades of constitutional litigation. Drawing on an original dataset of 1,888 rulings on all challenges to national and regional legislation (1981–2023), we examine how judicial outcomes a…
Navigating Europe from Catalonia: University students’ engagement with European politics
Leaving Europe, leaving Spain: Comparing secessionism from and within the European Union
Are secessionisms from and within the EU comparable? What motivates them and to what extent do they pose similar challenges to EU territorial governance? This article addresses these questions by comparing the framing of the British Leave campaign and the Catalan independence movement. Drawing on the FraTerr database and method, the analysis suggests that secessionism from the EU and secessionism within the EU are different political phenomena de…
Regulating language: Territoriality and personality in plurinational Spain
This article examines the regulation of linguistic diversity in Spain from a combined empirical and normative perspective. Spain is a particularly interesting case due to the intersection of linguistic and national diversity and its peculiar combination of territoriality and personality. We first present a conceptual framework which draws on the personality and territoriality distinction as established by political philosophers. Second, we examin…
Speaking for ‘our precious Union’: Unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20
Brexit and its implications pose the latest challenge to the Union as a political project and to unionism as the doctrine of state legitimacy. How did key unionist actors articulate the legitimizing foundations of the Union in the critical period 2016–20? And to what extent did they set out a renewed case for its continuation? Drawing on an extensive database including parliamentary debates, party documents and conference notes, we find that, des…
State nationalism and territorial accommodation in Spain and India
This article analyses the significance of polity-wide parties’ understanding of state and nation for their ability and willingness to accommodate territorial diversity. To illustrate this point, we first introduce a typology containing four ‘ideal-types’ of state nationalism: dominant, integrationist, composite, and plurinational. Subsequently, we apply this typology to two plural and multi-level polities, Spain and India, during two critical jun…
State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below
While calls for self-determination and independence make headlines worldwide, an often more subtle state nationalism remains an endemic condition of the modern world. In the introductory article for this Special Issue, we define state and majority nationalism we identify three challenges in the study of these phenomena, we suggest that a focus on plurinational states helps to overcome them, and we set out the conceptual, ideational and strategic …
Why Stay Together? State Nationalism and Justifications for State Unity in Spain and the UK
This paper examines the way party elites in the UK and Spain discursively construct the nation and justify state integrity in the face of resurgent Catalan and Scottish demands for self-determination and independence. While in each case there is a plurality of conceptions of the state, in Spain the demos is predominantly defined as a single, indivisible nation of equal citizens while in the UK the focus is typically on a plurinational Union. This…
Explaining accommodation and resistance to demands for independence referendums in the UK and Spain
This article examines why the UK Government accepted the 2014 Scottish independence referendum while the Spanish Government opposes a similar referendum in Catalonia. Adopting a most similar research design, we argue that the variation is best explained by perceived political opportunities by the two ruling parties. These are embedded in different conceptions of the state and constitutional designs, mostly mononational in Spain and mostly plurina…
Language as identity in colonial India: Policies and politics
Language as identity in colonial India: policies and politics." Regional & Federal Studies, 28(2), pp. 231–232
The 2017 Catalan Independence Referendum: A Symposium
This article summarises contributions to an ASEN-Edinburgh (Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Edinburgh Branch) symposium held the day after the 2017 Catalan referendum on independence. Daniel Cetrà describes a referendum disputed between legal and democratic legitimacy and grounded on competing visions of nationhood. Elisenda Casanas-Adam argues that there are alternative interpretations of the Spanish constitution which co…
Breaking‐up within Europe: Sub‐state Nationalist Strategies in Multilevel Polities
This article examines sub‐state nationalist strategies in relation to European integration in the Basque Country, Catalonia, Flanders and Scotland. First, we discuss the impact of European and economic integration on sovereignty and the cost of independence for small nations. Second, we compare the support for the European project in our four territories. We stress that European integration is a divisive issue in British politics but fundamentall…
The 2015 Catalan election: A de facto referendum on independence
The 2015 Catalan regional election, held on 27 September, was framed as a proxy for an independence referendum by the pro-independence parties. This was meant to bypass the PP-led central government's opposition to permit an official referendum. After an election campaign clearly dominated by the independence issue, the results delivered a majority of seats but not of votes for the pro-independence camp. However, the reading of the results as a d…
The Independence Case in Comparative Perspective
Scotland is not the only sub‐state unit in Europe where relevant political actors make claims for independence. To generate insights on these independence demands, we compare the drivers, arguments and popular support for secession in Scotland, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Flanders. We argue that national identity, party politics and the economy are behind the independence requests, and the exact articulation of these elements varies from ca…
Explaining accommodation and resistance to demands for independence referendums in the UK and Spain
This article examines why the UK Government accepted the 2014 Scottish independence referendum while the Spanish Government opposes a similar referendum in Catalonia. Adopting a most similar research design, we argue that the variation is best explained by perceived political opportunities by the two ruling parties. These are embedded in different conceptions of the state and constitutional designs, mostly mononational in Spain and mostly plurina…
The Independence Case in Comparative Perspective
Scotland is not the only sub‐state unit in Europe where relevant political actors make claims for independence. To generate insights on these independence demands, we compare the drivers, arguments and popular support for secession in Scotland, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Flanders. We argue that national identity, party politics and the economy are behind the independence requests, and the exact articulation of these elements varies from ca…
The 2015 Catalan election: A de facto referendum on independence
The 2015 Catalan regional election, held on 27 September, was framed as a proxy for an independence referendum by the pro-independence parties. This was meant to bypass the PP-led central government's opposition to permit an official referendum. After an election campaign clearly dominated by the independence issue, the results delivered a majority of seats but not of votes for the pro-independence camp. However, the reading of the results as a d…
Why Stay Together? State Nationalism and Justifications for State Unity in Spain and the UK
This paper examines the way party elites in the UK and Spain discursively construct the nation and justify state integrity in the face of resurgent Catalan and Scottish demands for self-determination and independence. While in each case there is a plurality of conceptions of the state, in Spain the demos is predominantly defined as a single, indivisible nation of equal citizens while in the UK the focus is typically on a plurinational Union. This…
Breaking‐up within Europe: Sub‐state Nationalist Strategies in Multilevel Polities
This article examines sub‐state nationalist strategies in relation to European integration in the Basque Country, Catalonia, Flanders and Scotland. First, we discuss the impact of European and economic integration on sovereignty and the cost of independence for small nations. Second, we compare the support for the European project in our four territories. We stress that European integration is a divisive issue in British politics but fundamentall…
The 2017 Catalan Independence Referendum: A Symposium
This article summarises contributions to an ASEN-Edinburgh (Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Edinburgh Branch) symposium held the day after the 2017 Catalan referendum on independence. Daniel Cetrà describes a referendum disputed between legal and democratic legitimacy and grounded on competing visions of nationhood. Elisenda Casanas-Adam argues that there are alternative interpretations of the Spanish constitution which co…
State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below
While calls for self-determination and independence make headlines worldwide, an often more subtle state nationalism remains an endemic condition of the modern world. In the introductory article for this Special Issue, we define state and majority nationalism we identify three challenges in the study of these phenomena, we suggest that a focus on plurinational states helps to overcome them, and we set out the conceptual, ideational and strategic …
State nationalism and territorial accommodation in Spain and India
This article analyses the significance of polity-wide parties’ understanding of state and nation for their ability and willingness to accommodate territorial diversity. To illustrate this point, we first introduce a typology containing four ‘ideal-types’ of state nationalism: dominant, integrationist, composite, and plurinational. Subsequently, we apply this typology to two plural and multi-level polities, Spain and India, during two critical jun…
Leaving Europe, leaving Spain: Comparing secessionism from and within the European Union
Are secessionisms from and within the EU comparable? What motivates them and to what extent do they pose similar challenges to EU territorial governance? This article addresses these questions by comparing the framing of the British Leave campaign and the Catalan independence movement. Drawing on the FraTerr database and method, the analysis suggests that secessionism from the EU and secessionism within the EU are different political phenomena de…
Speaking for ‘our precious Union’: Unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20
Brexit and its implications pose the latest challenge to the Union as a political project and to unionism as the doctrine of state legitimacy. How did key unionist actors articulate the legitimizing foundations of the Union in the critical period 2016–20? And to what extent did they set out a renewed case for its continuation? Drawing on an extensive database including parliamentary debates, party documents and conference notes, we find that, des…
Regulating language: Territoriality and personality in plurinational Spain
This article examines the regulation of linguistic diversity in Spain from a combined empirical and normative perspective. Spain is a particularly interesting case due to the intersection of linguistic and national diversity and its peculiar combination of territoriality and personality. We first present a conceptual framework which draws on the personality and territoriality distinction as established by political philosophers. Second, we examin…
The Independence Case in Comparative Perspective
Scotland is not the only sub‐state unit in Europe where relevant political actors make claims for independence. To generate insights on these independence demands, we compare the drivers, arguments and popular support for secession in Scotland, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Flanders. We argue that national identity, party politics and the economy are behind the independence requests, and the exact articulation of these elements varies from ca…
The 2015 Catalan election: A de facto referendum on independence
The 2015 Catalan regional election, held on 27 September, was framed as a proxy for an independence referendum by the pro-independence parties. This was meant to bypass the PP-led central government's opposition to permit an official referendum. After an election campaign clearly dominated by the independence issue, the results delivered a majority of seats but not of votes for the pro-independence camp. However, the reading of the results as a d…
Language as identity in colonial India: Policies and politics
Language as identity in colonial India: policies and politics." Regional & Federal Studies, 28(2), pp. 231–232
The 2017 Catalan Independence Referendum: A Symposium
This article summarises contributions to an ASEN-Edinburgh (Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Edinburgh Branch) symposium held the day after the 2017 Catalan referendum on independence. Daniel Cetrà describes a referendum disputed between legal and democratic legitimacy and grounded on competing visions of nationhood. Elisenda Casanas-Adam argues that there are alternative interpretations of the Spanish constitution which co…
Breaking‐up within Europe: Sub‐state Nationalist Strategies in Multilevel Polities
This article examines sub‐state nationalist strategies in relation to European integration in the Basque Country, Catalonia, Flanders and Scotland. First, we discuss the impact of European and economic integration on sovereignty and the cost of independence for small nations. Second, we compare the support for the European project in our four territories. We stress that European integration is a divisive issue in British politics but fundamentall…
Explaining accommodation and resistance to demands for independence referendums in the UK and Spain
This article examines why the UK Government accepted the 2014 Scottish independence referendum while the Spanish Government opposes a similar referendum in Catalonia. Adopting a most similar research design, we argue that the variation is best explained by perceived political opportunities by the two ruling parties. These are embedded in different conceptions of the state and constitutional designs, mostly mononational in Spain and mostly plurina…
State nationalism and territorial accommodation in Spain and India
This article analyses the significance of polity-wide parties’ understanding of state and nation for their ability and willingness to accommodate territorial diversity. To illustrate this point, we first introduce a typology containing four ‘ideal-types’ of state nationalism: dominant, integrationist, composite, and plurinational. Subsequently, we apply this typology to two plural and multi-level polities, Spain and India, during two critical jun…
State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below
While calls for self-determination and independence make headlines worldwide, an often more subtle state nationalism remains an endemic condition of the modern world. In the introductory article for this Special Issue, we define state and majority nationalism we identify three challenges in the study of these phenomena, we suggest that a focus on plurinational states helps to overcome them, and we set out the conceptual, ideational and strategic …
Why Stay Together? State Nationalism and Justifications for State Unity in Spain and the UK
This paper examines the way party elites in the UK and Spain discursively construct the nation and justify state integrity in the face of resurgent Catalan and Scottish demands for self-determination and independence. While in each case there is a plurality of conceptions of the state, in Spain the demos is predominantly defined as a single, indivisible nation of equal citizens while in the UK the focus is typically on a plurinational Union. This…
Speaking for ‘our precious Union’: Unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20
Brexit and its implications pose the latest challenge to the Union as a political project and to unionism as the doctrine of state legitimacy. How did key unionist actors articulate the legitimizing foundations of the Union in the critical period 2016–20? And to what extent did they set out a renewed case for its continuation? Drawing on an extensive database including parliamentary debates, party documents and conference notes, we find that, des…
Regulating language: Territoriality and personality in plurinational Spain
This article examines the regulation of linguistic diversity in Spain from a combined empirical and normative perspective. Spain is a particularly interesting case due to the intersection of linguistic and national diversity and its peculiar combination of territoriality and personality. We first present a conceptual framework which draws on the personality and territoriality distinction as established by political philosophers. Second, we examin…
Leaving Europe, leaving Spain: Comparing secessionism from and within the European Union
Are secessionisms from and within the EU comparable? What motivates them and to what extent do they pose similar challenges to EU territorial governance? This article addresses these questions by comparing the framing of the British Leave campaign and the Catalan independence movement. Drawing on the FraTerr database and method, the analysis suggests that secessionism from the EU and secessionism within the EU are different political phenomena de…
Nationalising Human Rights: British versus Scottish Perspectives
Human rights are universal but have historically been realised within the framework of the nation state. In recent decades, they have been articulated also at the supranational and sub-state levels. Both state nationalisms and sub-state nationalist movements have used human rights in order to establish legitimacy and liberal democratic tensions. In the United Kingdom, British nationalists have attacked the European Convention on Human Rights (ECH…
Judicial review and territorial conflicts: Evidence from Spain
Constitutional courts (CCs) in federal and quasi-federal systems are often expected to act as neutral arbiters in conflicts between levels of government. This article challenges that assumption by analysing the behavior of Spain’s Constitutional Court over four decades of constitutional litigation. Drawing on an original dataset of 1,888 rulings on all challenges to national and regional legislation (1981–2023), we examine how judicial outcomes a…
Navigating Europe from Catalonia: University students’ engagement with European politics
Politics (14 works) · Political Systems and Governance (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Independence (probability theory (7 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (6 works) · Nationalism (6 works)