Research

My research focuses on the comparative study of nationalism, territorial politics, and language politics. I specialise in the cases of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Belgium.

These are the questions I have sought to answer thus far:

1. How do sub-state nationalists make their case for independence?

2. What strategies do sub-state nationalists adopt within the EU?

3. Why do some governments concede independence referendums while others do not?

4. Do normative debates about liberal, national, and linguistic justice capture the motivations of activists and politicians?

5. How do linguistic regimes distribute linguistic rights and to what extent are they fair?

6. How do parties legitimise the political union and justify state integrity? Is there significant variation across cases?

7. What types of state nationalism are there? To what extent do they inform the nature and evolution of territorial constitutions?

These are the questions I am currently seeking to answer in my Beatriu de Pinós project:

1. How do constitutional courts in federal systems reconcile the diverging objectives of maximising legitimacy and efficiency?

2. What explanatory factors inform the strength of Constitutional Court’s decisions over regional legislation across time and space?