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How Transnational Exchanges Shaped Conceptions about Morality and Small Nations in Europe: Catalan (and Spanish) Readings of Václav Havel in the 1990s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2023

José Luis Aguilar López-Barajas Open the ORCID record for José Luis Aguilar López-Barajas [Opens in a new window]
José Luis Aguilar López-Barajas*
Affiliation:
Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
*
jaguil04@ucm.es
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Abstract

This paper deals with appraisals of Havel made in Spain in the 1990s. During this decade, the Czech politician's popularity reached a peak in Europe, and Spanish politicians approached his vision of morality in politics in different ways, taking advantage of it to support different political and national projects. In the first half of the decade, interpretations of Havel were especially productive in Catalonia, where two almost antagonistic political projects drew inspiration from Havel and elaborated on different concepts of European small nations. The decade's second half gave way to a more one-sided vision of him, in which he was transformed, thanks to the Spanish conservative president José María Aznar, into a reference point to support conservatism and the Atlantic agenda.

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Contemporary European History , First View , pp. 1 - 14
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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