Catalonia’s Cultural Diplomacy – A Story of total liquidation or a new beginning?

Catalonia’s para-diplomatic apparatus was hit hard when the Spanish government took control of the regional administration in the wake of the independence referendum of 2017. Since then, what was regarded by many as a successful model has mutated into a low-profile accommodating structure that is trying its best to steer through a storm of cumulative fines and pending legal cases while it avoids taking a central stage in national and international politics. The next two years will be key to see whether Catalan diplomacy retakes its place as a very particular international player trying to push a self-determination agenda or if it dissolves in a more mundane regional strategy.