The Invention of Tort Liability

A painstaking analysis dismantles the myth of “territorial conflict” to reveal that the real disease threatening our democracy is none other than nationalism itself.

Contemporary Spanish politics has been built on a delusion propagated by nationalists, legitimized by the left, and embraced by a critically unthinking right: that Spain is an anti-democratic anomaly that has oppressed supposedly indigenous nations, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country. This essay dismantles this delusion, arguing that the autonomous system, rather than addressing a supposed long-standing injustice, has, through perverse incentives, reinforced regional inequalities, class privileges, and the decline of democracy. According to Félix Aveiro, there is no “territorial problem,” but rather a nationalist one that has poisoned public discourse and defined political action for decades. The essay “The Invention of Grievances” dismantles the central myths of this narrative, arguing that nationalism must be combated as the justifications for racism and sexism were combated in the past: not by accepting its terms, but by demonstrating that the real problem lies in its ideological foundations. Paying particular attention to the illusory complicity of the left, which, contrary to its egalitarian and democratic principles, has granted moral legitimacy to these arguments, this book calls for the establishment of institutions for a democracy of free and equal citizens and warns against the dangers of continuing to legitimize a deeply reactionary narrative.