Universalism within: The tension between universalism and community in progressive ideology

Abstract

Social-democratic parties face a dilemma between the uni-versalist ethos of their socialist tradition and the nationalismthat they share with the other political actors of the statewhere they act. In this paper, we examine comparativelythe position of the Spanish partyPartido Socialista ObreroEspañol(PSOE) and the Catalan partyEsquerra Republicanade Catalunya(ERC) on three political debates that pertainsto the link between welfare and identity in Spain. We showhow these parties experience opposite tensions betweennationalism and the universalism of their left-wing ideology.Whereas ERC calls for a withdrawal from the Spanish sys-tem of social security, the PSOE advocates imposing onCatalonia a symmetric form of solidarity with the rest ofSpain, despite recognising the region's different identity.Above all, both parties take identity for granted as a pre-political factor that‘naturally’justifies differential treat-ment, according to ERC, or equalising federalism, in the caseof the PSOE.