A brief comparative history of economic regionalism in the North Italian macro-region and Catalonia

This article seeks interprets of Lega Nord as the re-emergence of historical tensions which manifested themselves during two economic booms in Lombardy and Piedmont respectively. The fact that these economic booms happened in the same periods in Catalonia (late 19th Century and mid-20th Century) proves particularly illuminating as we see an “economic regionalism” emerge in both regions involving an exacerbation of pre-existing hostilities towards the central state and the South in each peninsula. However, further to similarities in the economic history between the two regions the article will also look at differences which lie in cultural and linguistic claims for self-determination and the different manifestations and expressions of autonomy.