The secession of territories in the Spanish Constitution

Abstract

This paper analyzes the seccesion of territories under the Spanish Constitution. First, we must note that the Constitution provides the «indisoluble unity» of Spain; that means that the secession of territories without prior amendment of the Constitution has to be excluded. But the need for constituional Amendment, however, in general rule which applys to all democratic Constitutions, even them which doesn’t include expressly the State’s indissolubility. But does that means thatconstitutional analysis of secession should conclude with this statement? In the last decades it has been building a new constitutional paradigm about how democratic constitutional systems muss adress secesionist claims, according to the principles underlying the Constitution. Countries like Canada, regarding claims for sovereignty of Québec, and United Kingdom, regarding claims for Independence of Scotland, have gone down this path. This paper attemps to analyze how these principles apply in the Spanish constitutional system.