Nations, Identities and Borders (20160)

How is Spain broken? Theory and Praxis

Degree/study: Degree in Humanities
Year: 3rd-4th
Term: 2n
Number of ECTS credits: 5 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 125 hours
Teaching language or languages: catalan
Teaching Staff: Josep M. Delgado Ribas

1. Presentation of the subject

 

Study of the secession processes in the contemporary history of Spain. The program of the course has two parts. In the first, which is theoretical, it has been made an analysis of several examples from around the world and which factors might help a different community integrated into a state to begin a process of separation and which factors play for and against the achievement of this goal. In the second part, we will
try to follow how these factors act between 1810 and 1898 and they will help towards the American territories secession of the Spanish empire, which were considered before then by the metropolis as kingdoms and provinces of Spain.

 

2. Competences to be attained

Transferable skills

Specific competences

1. Reflect on these modern and contemporary processes of secession. 2. Relate particular case studies with other similar situations. 3. Detect the ideological and cultural information which is implicit in each case. 4. Understand the interrelation between identity, history and economic situation. 5. Development of multi susceptibility. 6. Argue orally and in a written way a certain criteria. 7. Write and express in an organized way the acquired knowledge. 8. Innovate and be creative in the transmission of knowledge. 9.  Work with digitized sources from different countries. 10. Summarize ideas. 11. Development of the capacity to apply the received knowledge in the analysis of different historical contexts.

1. Understand the factors that determine the decision of a different community separate from a state. 2. Analyze the benefits and costs of secession. 3. Analyze the benefits and costs of belonging to a State. 4. Identify the political and economic barriers that hinder the process. 5. Develop schemes or summaries of texts which have been read. 6. Know the basic characteristics of the Spanish empire. 7. Know the reasons why Latin American republics broke away from Spain. 8. Analyze the reaction of the empire against the attempts of secession. 9. Situate properly the process within its international context.

3. Contents

 

Module 1. Factors that influence the decision to separate: the benefits of being a membership of a large political unit, the costs of being a membership and costs and benefits of secession. The "secessionist crisis." The triggered factors.

Module 2. The secession barriers. Benefits and costs of being a membership and of a secession. The resistance of the State to break down. The hostile role of the International Community.

Module 3. Arguments that justify the secession. Genocide and ethnic persecution.
Defense of identity.

Module 4. Benefits of the secession. The right to self-determination and the principle of the States territorial integrity.

Module 5. The secessionist dynamics. Increased costs of being a membership. "The "right time". The reduction in short-term costs of secession. The reduction of
the benefits from being a membership.

Module 6. Main characteristics of the Spanish colonial empire. Barriers to separation.

Module 7. Increased costs of being a membership: the "Bourbon reforms" (1762 - 1792) and its impact on the colonized societies. The arguments that justify the first separatist projects.

Module 8. The "right time". The Napoleonic Wars and the recovery of sovereignty.

Module 9. The opposition of the state. How Spain defensed attempts to secede.

Module 10. The role of the International Community. The Congress of Vienna and
Anglo-Saxon powers.

 

*The full version with the sections: 4. Assessment, 5. Bibliography and teaching resources, 6. Methodology, and 7. Planning of activities is available in the original version.

 

4. Assessment

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5. Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

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5.2. Complementary bibliography

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5.3. Teaching resources

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6. Metodology

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7. Planning of activities

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