Two lessons worth learning from the Catalan elections

Some years ago, when the Catalan pro-independence movement was reaching its high point in terms of popular mobilisation, quite a few politicians and commentators in and outside Spain argued that it was mainly a reaction to the long-standing hardships caused by the 2008 financial crisis.

That when the economy would recover, support for independence would quickly get back to pre-crisis levels—that is, around 15 percent of popular support.

They preferred to overlook the underlying ...