The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle

This study shines a light on the problem of Catalan secessionist leaders’ abuse of the term “democracy”, an issue rarely discussed in the academic debate. The Catalan secessionist case has mainly been studied as a problem concerning the principle of territorial integrity and how it relates to the ex...

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Autor: Torroja Mateu, Helena
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/215996
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/215996
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Procés independentista català, 2010-
Institucions comunitàries
Autodeterminació nacional
Catalan independence process, 2010-
Institutions of the European Union
National self-determination
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spelling The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic PrincipleTorroja Mateu, HelenaProcés independentista català, 2010-Institucions comunitàriesAutodeterminació nacionalCatalan independence process, 2010-Institutions of the European UnionNational self-determinationThis study shines a light on the problem of Catalan secessionist leaders’ abuse of the term “democracy”, an issue rarely discussed in the academic debate. The Catalan secessionist case has mainly been studied as a problem concerning the principle of territorial integrity and how it relates to the existence (or otherwise) of a right of self-determination for a substate entity. However, it is also a problem of democracy. For the entire secessionist process was based on a democratic principle outside and against the Spanish Constitution: one that defends the supremacy and inviolability of the (regional, in this case) parliamentary majority over the rule of law and respect for minority rights. It thus pitted a radical or identity-based democracy against the democracy protected and promoted by the Council of Europe (in which the rule of law, human rights and democracy are inseparable principles forming a single whole). The Venice Commission, the European Court of Human Rights and a divided Parliamentary Assembly have all witnessed this defence of authoritarianism through the radical democratic principle advocated by the leaders of the Catalan process. In response, the first two have defended constitutional democracy, the common heritage on which European public order is based. In 2021, the PACE took a short-lived position (it has adopted no further resolutions in this sense), buoyed by a weak majority, in favour of the Catalan radical democratic principle. Two years later, however, it, too, would defend constitutional democracy as the “genuine democracy” to which the 1949 Treaty of London refers, albeit again by a slim majority. The study concludes that there is no place for the radical democratic principle in Council of Europe law.2024202420242024info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion39 p.application/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/215996Articles publicats en revistes (Dret Penal i Criminologia, i Dret Internacional Públic i Relacions Internacional)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-024-00213-8Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 2024, vol. 24, num.1, p. 90-128https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-024-00213-8cc-by (c) Torroja Mateu, Helena, 2024http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:2445/2159962026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
title The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
spellingShingle The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
Torroja Mateu, Helena
Procés independentista català, 2010-
Institucions comunitàries
Autodeterminació nacional
Catalan independence process, 2010-
Institutions of the European Union
National self-determination
title_short The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
title_full The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
title_fullStr The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
title_full_unstemmed The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
title_sort The Council of Europe and the Catalan Secessionist Process: The Authoritarian Drift of the Radical Democratic Principle
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Torroja Mateu, Helena
author Torroja Mateu, Helena
author_facet Torroja Mateu, Helena
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Procés independentista català, 2010-
Institucions comunitàries
Autodeterminació nacional
Catalan independence process, 2010-
Institutions of the European Union
National self-determination
topic Procés independentista català, 2010-
Institucions comunitàries
Autodeterminació nacional
Catalan independence process, 2010-
Institutions of the European Union
National self-determination
description This study shines a light on the problem of Catalan secessionist leaders’ abuse of the term “democracy”, an issue rarely discussed in the academic debate. The Catalan secessionist case has mainly been studied as a problem concerning the principle of territorial integrity and how it relates to the existence (or otherwise) of a right of self-determination for a substate entity. However, it is also a problem of democracy. For the entire secessionist process was based on a democratic principle outside and against the Spanish Constitution: one that defends the supremacy and inviolability of the (regional, in this case) parliamentary majority over the rule of law and respect for minority rights. It thus pitted a radical or identity-based democracy against the democracy protected and promoted by the Council of Europe (in which the rule of law, human rights and democracy are inseparable principles forming a single whole). The Venice Commission, the European Court of Human Rights and a divided Parliamentary Assembly have all witnessed this defence of authoritarianism through the radical democratic principle advocated by the leaders of the Catalan process. In response, the first two have defended constitutional democracy, the common heritage on which European public order is based. In 2021, the PACE took a short-lived position (it has adopted no further resolutions in this sense), buoyed by a weak majority, in favour of the Catalan radical democratic principle. Two years later, however, it, too, would defend constitutional democracy as the “genuine democracy” to which the 1949 Treaty of London refers, albeit again by a slim majority. The study concludes that there is no place for the radical democratic principle in Council of Europe law.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2024
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/215996
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/215996
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-024-00213-8
Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 2024, vol. 24, num.1, p. 90-128
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-024-00213-8
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Torroja Mateu, Helena, 2024
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Torroja Mateu, Helena, 2024
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 39 p.
application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Dret Penal i Criminologia, i Dret Internacional Públic i Relacions Internacional)
reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.81155

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