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This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Catalonian crisis in Spain from a historical, political and legal perspective. Using the precedents of Québec, Scotland, and partially Veneto and Bavaria, the author highlights some of the key issues of contemporary secessionist nationalism, including its relationship with sovereignty, the right to have a referendum, and the capacity of a particular territory to amend the constitution in order to admit secession.

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CHAPTER 1. HISTORICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND: AN ACCOUNT OF THE CATALAN SECESSIONIST PROCESS 1. Brief historical overview
2. Constitutional background: Spain as a quasi-federal polity 3. The origins of the conflict: the "Estatuto" (2006) and the judgment of the Constitutional Court (2010) 4. The uncertain path to independence and the explosion of the crisis (2012-2014): vindicating the "right to decide" 5. The "plebiscitarian" regional elections of September 2015: victories and defeats 6. Insurrection and reaction (2016-2018): the referendum, the declaration of independence and the emergency intervention of the national government 7. Why? References
CHAPTER 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CATALAN SECESSIONIST PROCESS 1. Secession under international law: self-determination and the so called "remedial secession"
2. A first comparative approach: the main foreign precedents of a referendum on independence 2.1. Canada, Québec and the Clarity Act 2000 2.2. The UK, Scotland and the 2014 referendum 2.3. Can Québec and Scotland be considered valid precedents for Catalan authorities´ attempt to hold a referendum on independence? 3. A second comparative approach: two recent attempts of referenda on independence in Europe blocked by constitutional courts 3.1 Germany and Bavaria 3.2 Italy and Veneto 3.3 Are Veneto and Bavaria comparable to Catalonia? 4. The constitutional situation in Spain (according to the Constitutional Court) 5. The European question
CHAPTER 3. PARADOXES, MISTAKES, AND POSSIBLE STEPS TOWARDS AN APPEASED SOLUTION
1. Some paradoxes
2. Playing with law and politics 3. Relevant mistakes committed by both sides 4. Secession and democracy 5. Is there a way out? 5.1 The need for dialogue and mutual recognition 5.2 The viability of constitutional reform(s) and the possible acknowledgement of the plurinationality of Spain 5.3 Is there really no space for some kind of agreed referendum? 6. Final reflections

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Miguel Beltrán de Felipe is Professor of Law at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. He previously served as a law clerk in the Constitutional Court of Spain, as APSA-Fulbright Congressional Fellow in the House of Representatives of the US, and as a legal counsel for the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs of Spain.

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