(Mis)recognition in Catalunya and Quebec: The Politics of Judicial Containment

Abstract

The issue of recognition of diversity in multinational states means that, in certain exceptional circumstances, political debates are transported into the judicial arena. The courts are thus required to define and circumscribe the political developments that are most able to maintain political stability while containing, to a certain extent, pressures from minority nations. In doing so, not only do they contribute to refocusing the debate on the conditions of acceptability of the claims of these minorities, but they also present, in a generally coherent way, the manner in which the majority group perceives itself. The recent Spanish Constitutional Court decision of June 2010, regarding the constitutionality of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy of 2006, has generated a serious crisis in the constitutional accommodation of Catalunya within Spain. The impact of this decision and the debates that have followed echo the significance of and discussion surrounding the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision on the Quebec secession reference in 1998, highlighting again the fundamental role of the Supreme/Constitutional Courts in the accommodation of national minorities in multinational polities.