Rhetoric, emotions and pluralism: the democratic deficit in the political identity of the Catalan independence movement (2011-2017)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to study the political identity that characterizes the current Catalan social and political independence movement (2011-2017) from the rhetorical theory of democracy perspective. The question to be analyzed will be whether this identity contains democratic deficits that affect its inclusivity and pluralism in such a way that its ability to interact with a significant portion of Catalan society is limited. For this purpose, the political identity in question will be examined to determine if it is a common or a partial political identity because, in the latter case its normative problems will be significant, from a democratic perspective, given the goal that this movement aims to achieve.