Spain : all religions are equal, but some are more equal than others

Abstract

Spain constitutes one of Europe’s oldest states, yet one that has always been strongly characterized by its multinational, multilinguistic, and multicultural population. It has therefore struggled to reconcile centralization tendencies with the need to recognize and accommodate multiple belongings and overlapping identities and loyalties within one political unit. It is also a country of recent immigration, which has seen a rapid growth in its Muslim population over the past few decades. Having been heavily hit by the 2008 economic crisis, Spain can offer some pointers and insights to Eastern European states that are currently struggling both with a weaker economy than their Western neighbours, and with immigration as a new phenomenon to be managed.