General discussion
Using Friedman´s (2000: 31) statement that identity is for humans as important as "food in the belly", in this investigation the concept of identity is key. In the field of psychology, identity is found to be essential to construct the self- awareness of humans. This derives from their knowledge of belonging to certain social groups, based on the emotional value of attachment to those groups (Tajfel 1982: 2). The articulation of any identity is based on two dimensions: the objective and subjective dimensions. The objective dimension is the one that refers to the usage of objective elements to differentiate one group from another, such as language or culture. The subjective dimension is the psychological awareness of those objective elements. Hobsbawm argues (1990: 5-6) that to articulate an identity, national or regional, both dimensions are required. For this investigation, the subjective dimension is the most important one, following authors such as Anderson (1991: 6), Guibernau (1996: 47), or Moore (1997: 906).
In this investigation, identity is understood not only as a mechanism to articulate the self-awareness of individuals or groups, but also as a social construct which is subjected to dynamics of change and articulation (Holt and Gubbins 2002: 1). Identity is socially constructed and reproduced through discourse (Benwell and Stokoe 2007: 4). If discourses and discursive practices produce, reproduce and reinforce identity, this is done by incorporating
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characteristics of uniqueness and difference (De Cillia et al. 1999: 153-154). In this sense, identity is used as a collective marker to articulate the distinctiveness of a social group vis-à-vis other groups. Consequently, collective identity is used by social groups to mobilise the population to achieve a specific goal, which in the case of parties, is political in order to reinforce the borders between groups (May 2001: 27). Parties try to articulate identity, via identity consciousness18, to
fit the purpose of their discourses, which reflects the defence of certain interests (Paasi 2013: 1207-1208).
National/regional identity is the key issue on which parties struggle to politicise identity in order to achieve political mobilisation. On one hand, SWPs use national identity to homogenise the state in order to defend the interests of the elites that are located in the centre. National identity is defined here as the feeling of belonging to a certain social group named as nation (Wodak 1999: 3- 4), based on the perception of a distinct economic, cultural and political national reality. On the other hand, regional identity is used by regionalist parties to defend the interest of the elites located in the peripheries. Regional identity is understood in the same way as national identity, as a hierarchical social phenomenon (Herb and Kaplan 1999: 13-17) which is nested (Paasi 2002: 140), but bounded to a region. It is based on characteristics of the region that have been classified by regional social groups as constituents of the identity of the region (Chromý and Janu 2003: 108). These characteristics can be based on natural markers of the region (Sörlin 1999: 103-104), or on socio-economic differences (Johnson and Coleman 2012: 864-867).
To understand this argument better, Paasi (2002: 140), divides regional identity into two dimensions: an ideal and a factual regional identity. The former refers to the collective and normative aspect of the regional identity, or in other words, the final ideal target of what a region is supposed to mean politically. The latter relates to identities as framed through social interaction, like for example,
18 Following Lopez-Aranguren (1983: 55-58), this investigation relies on three levels to identify
the degree of development of any social identity consciousness: the first and lower level is the perception or awareness of the elements that define a social group in comparison with others. This is, the subjective dimension of identity. The second and medium level is the identification of the elements that define a social group in comparison with others. This is the objective dimension of identity. The third and superior level is the aspirations of making the distinct social identity a reality, based on economic, cultural and political grounds.
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through parties. If nationalism can be understood as a political doctrine that aims to converge the ideal to the factual nationalist identity, then regionalism should be understood in the same way, the aim of converging the ideal to the factual regional identity. If identity is used as a mark of distinction, this means that the political community of the periphery can either resign or resist (Chromý and Janu 2003: 106). This is, move from the periphery to the centre and become assimilated, moving only in the factual sphere of the regional identity, or challenge it and legitimise its own reality in the periphery through converging the ideal and factual regional identity spheres into a single one based on its distinctiveness.
Combining these two dimensions with Keating´s third element of regional identity (1998: 86), the theorisation is the following. This third element refers to the regional identity as instrumental, where the region is used as the basis for mobilisation and collective action amongst the local population, articulated through political discourse to achieve a concrete political convergence of interests and distinctiveness (Miodownik and Cartrite 2010: 733). Parties, understood as political instruments of certain social groups in the regions (Fitjar 2010a: 7-9), are used to imposed a specific political project, either from the centre or to challenge centralisation (Lipset and Rokkan 1967: 14). In this sense, SWPs try to impose centralisation through a strong national identity, and regionalist parties try to challenge it with a strong regional identity.
As the literature dealing with regionalism argues (Agnew 2002; Paasi 2004; Keating 2008), territorial identities are central to the success of regionalist parties and the subsequent territorial policies. It does not matter how historical the peripheral identity is or if it is only restricted to a small group in the periphery, it is still a political binder which gives regionalist parties a sense of common aim which they use to build a challenging political movement towards the centre (Alonso 2012: 24). SWPs are expected to adopt pro-periphery positions on the centre-periphery cleavage when these regional identities are strong. They do so in order to be able to contextualise their national project and incorporate these identities into a broader national identity. Positioning themselves against these strong regional identities can trigger resistance form the regional population, deepening the feeling of becoming assimilate against their will. In comparison, regionalist parties are expected to have stronger pro-periphery positions in
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defending regional identities as they are used to articulate distinct communities at the peripheries, making this a specific marker to challenge the centre.
The effect of strong regional identities on party completion on the centre- periphery cleavage is hypothesised in this investigation in the following way:
H5-strong regional identities reinforce the pro-periphery positions of
parties Identity applied to all the regions of Spain
The existence of strong regional identities in Spain is a key element of the tensions between the centre and the peripheries (Keating 1993; Lecours 2001; Llera 2009) at the regional level (Chernyha and Burg 2012). This has been present since the 19th century (Beramendi 1999), and its implication in politics is
very deep (Aja 2001; Flynn 2004). Theorising that the stronger the regional identity, the stronger the pro-positions of parties to address this mark of distinction, either to incorporate it to a broader national project by SWPs, or to challenge the centre by regionalist parties. The hypotheses are:
H5.A-the stronger the regional identity feelings, the more emphasis of parties of
the regional level
H5.B-the stronger the regional identity feelings, the more calls from parties for
more competences for the regions
H5.C-the stronger the regional identity feelings, the more emphasis of parties
on positive attitudes towards multiculturalism