Catalonia is one of a few European separatist movements that have real significance in the European political sphere. Separatism is new to Catalonia, however Catalan nationalism is not. Through the analysis of primary and secondary sources, this thesis explains that the reason the Catalan nationalist movement is so strong and demands the attention it is receiving in the Spanish national and international communities is the long-standing political, economic, and cultural foundations that have been building even before Catalonia was formed. Likewise, these foundations combined with the triggering events of the recession of the late 2000s and the Spanish constitutional court ruling on the revised Catalan Statute of Autonomy caused a shift in the movement towards separatism
