Doctoral Dissertation Research: Globalization of Markets for Technological Products and Economic Development: Cross-National Analysis and the Case of the Spanish Pharmaceutical Ind

In the quarter of a century framed by Spain's 1898 loss of its last overseas colonial possessions and the 1923 coup initiating the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, Spanish cities were sites of intense struggle over political identity. On city streets, republicans, socialists, and anarchosyndicalists competed for support, with different outcomes across cities. This project is a comparative study of the construction of working-class political identity in Barcelona, Valencia, and Alicante that seeks to explain why cities within the same national context had very different patterns of working-class political affiliation during this era; specifically why the radical anarchosyndicalist movement was much more successful in some cities than in others. The dissertation develops a new theoretical approach to understanding the determinants of political identity, one which emphasizes the importance of forms of urban political practice in the construction of political citizenship, and by extension in the construction and consolidation of national states. Hypotheses will be tested through historical-comparative analysis of the development of forms of political action in these three cities throughout the 25-year period. The primary data source will be periodicals located in specialized archives in each locality and at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; additional evidence will be obtained from local administrative archives. The broader impacts of this research include: This research will be of interest to scholars interested in understanding the process of political identity-formation. The project will draw upon a neglected empirical case to produce an original theoretical framework with broader implications for understanding both historical processes and contemporary phenomena, including the relationship of radical movements to urban protest in the Middle East and Latin America, and, more broadly, the legitimization of the state versus alternative political forms. The public presentation of evidence in the form of a photographic exhibit, documenting the political participation of women and other underrepresented groups, will contribute to the study's broader dissemination.