Decline and Disintegration: National Status Loss and Domestic Conflict in Post-Disaster Spain

A state’s declining international status activates two sets of social psychological dynamics that can contribute to domestic conflict. Declining status leads some groups to strengthen their commitment to the dominant national identity and other groups to disidentify from the state. Declining status also produces incentives for substate actors to derogate and scapegoat one another. These dynamics are likely to contribute to domestic conflict in multinational states. An examination of Spain’s status loss in the early twentieth century illustrates these dynamics.