Foolish consistency: Spain’s Kosovo-Catalonia conundrum

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy in Brussels press conference at the end of an EU Summit. Wiktor Dabkowski/Press Association. All rights reserved.Consistency is a virtue. It
demonstrates one’s principles, creates predictability, and insulates oneself from
charges of hypocrisy. But as with any virtue, its excessive application can
prove tedious, annoying, and boorish. “A foolish consistency,” the American
philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us, “is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”

Such hobgoblins
clearly haunt the halls of power in Madrid. Spanish leaders have taken a firm
line against separatism everywhere because of their home-grown separatists in
the Basque Country and Catalonia. As a result, Spain is one of only five EU members
that does not recognise Kosovo’s independence. The logic is clear: if Madrid accepts
that Kosovo has a right to independence, wouldn’t consistency demand that it
allow Catalonia the same option?

This is a clear case
of foolish consistency. By sticking to such consistency, leaders in Madrid fail
to highlight the essential distinctions between Kosovo and Catalonia. Worse, by
failing to recognize those distinctions, the Madrid government establishes
itself as unable to distinguish between legitimate aspirations for self-rule
and destabilizing separatism. Even worse than that, Madrid inadvertently
signals that Catalonia may have a case for independence. Worse, by failing to
recognize those distinctions, the Madrid government establishes itself as
unable to distinguish between legitimate aspirations for self-rule and
destabilizing separatism.

Justifying secession

Separatism is a complicated and disputed matter. The international order
is strongly biased in favour of sovereign states for good reason. It is not a
perfect system, but it is one that minimises war, human suffering, and chaos.
There needs to be an exceptionally strong case to break with the principle of
territorial integrity, especially since separatism is often driven by dangerous
forms of nationalism.  To justify secession, the state in question needs
to have demonstrated a willingness to carry out mass
atrocities against its population.

With this in mind, the vast differences between Kosovo and Catalonia
become clear. The Albanian population in Kosovo experienced racist repression
under Slobodan Milosevic’s rule during the 1990s as Yugoslavia was
disintegrating.

This culminated in a war in which Yugoslav forces killed more than
10,000 Kosovo Albanians. When NATO started its bombing campaign in 1999,
Belgrade deliberately expelled close to a million Kosovo Albanians – half the
population – to neighbouring countries. Yugoslav forces made sure to strip the
Kosovo Albanians of their identity papers at border crossings to make it
impossible for them to return.

These crimes provided a strong moral rationale for separatism. They also
made it impossible in practical terms for Belgrade to rule over Kosovo again
and led the vast majority of western states (though not Spain) to conclude that
independence was the only viable option. Since declaring independence
nearly ten years ago, Kosovo has been recognised by 110 states and counting – this
is a testament to the strength of its case for statehood.

Populist nationalism

The Catalan case is entirely different. There may be serious political grievances
– some even legitimate – in Catalonia with what is perceived as Madrid’s
chauvinist attitude towards the region. And Madrid has certainly bungled its
response to Catalonia’s separatists. The images – especially the real ones – of riot police dragging grey-haired pensioners from polling stations
have mustered plenty of international sympathy for the separatist cause.

But Madrid has stayed well within the remit of international law and the
Spanish constitution. Its incompetence in public relations does not mean it is
wrong on the political question. It deserves international support against
the populist nationalism of the separatists. 

And the international community does support it. No state has expressed
support for Catalonia’s separatists or even hinted that recognition is a
possibility. The South Ossetian de facto foreign minister did show up in
Catalonia and offer to recognise its independence if Catalonia recognised South
Ossetia. But this would only underscore Catalonia’s feeble case for
independence given that South Ossetia has been recognised by a grand total of
four states and is effectively annexed by Russia.

Even Russia, which has stoked separatist fires in Catalonia through its propaganda, says that it will not recognize Catalan independence.
The lack of recognition means that Catalonia’s declaration of independence will
remain worth little more than the paper it was written on. It is exactly because Madrid is in the right on
Catalonia that it should recognize Kosovo’s independence.

Democracy and morality

It is exactly because Madrid is in the right on Catalonia that it should
recognize Kosovo’s independence. In taking such a bold step, Spain would
demonstrate that it has an overwhelmingly strong case for retaining Catalonia. It
would send the message that it supports the legitimate aspirations of oppressed
peoples and takes seriously its commitment to universal human rights. And it
would show that its opposition to Catalonian independence is based on democracy
and morality, not on foolish consistency and a lawyerly reading of the Spanish
constitution.

Of course, Spanish recognition of Kosovo is not going to happen any time
soon. The political dynamics in Spain make such a move highly unlikely. If
anything, the Catalan crisis has only hardened Madrid’s stance towards Kosovo. But
as the crisis deepens, Madrid would do well to think less of foolish consistency
and law, and more of morality and politics.