PRINCIPI DEMOCRÀTIC I JUSTIFICACIÓ CONSTITUCIONAL DEL DRET DE DECIDIR

Abstract

In this article the author defends that the right to decide, understood as the holding of a referendum on the political future of Catalonia, is not banned by the Spanish Constitution (SC). The principal reason provided is that the principle of indissolubility (section 2.1 of the SC) and the principle of national sovereignty (section 1.2 SC) shall be adequately balanced with the principles of liberal democracy (as defined in sections 1.1., 23.1., 9 and 10 SC). In the light of this perspective, the article justifies two main aspects: 1) holding a referendum on the independence of Catalonia on the grounds of an evolutionary interpretation of the democratic rights as linked to a dense conception of democracy; and 2) holding a referendum exclusively in Catalonia, in order to avoid passing from the principle of the majority to the control of the majorities.

Keywords

• right to decide
• evolutionary interpretation
• liberal democracy
• personal autonomy
• inviolability
• human dignity
• control of the majorities