Spanish Nationalism and Political Cultures. The beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Abstract

In recent decades, the New Cultural History has raised new questions about the past and has contributed decisively to improve our understanding of main historical processes. The renovation has been specially important in two fields: the study of nations and nationalism, and the cultural history of politics. In Spain, many specialists have worked in the study of Spanish nationalism; at the same time, many others have analyzed the
formation of modern Spanish «political cultures». Nevertheless, they have not crossed their ways until now. In this article, I explain briefly the most recent theoretical trends on the study of nations and nationalisms; after that, I summarize the debates aroused by the concept of «political culture» in Spanish historiography; finally, I point out how this concept could be useful for the study of Spanish nationalism.