Why did I select this topic? |
Evolution of my research |
I chose this topic because I was recently in France and Italy this past Summer, and I really enjoyed my time there. This influenced my decision because I wanted to further enhance my experience by being attentive to European politics. Belgium just happened to be at the roots of a Spanish rebellion, and although I had never been to these two nations before, I was interested in what the Catalan rebellion would mean for the relationship between the two. Also as a long time soccer fan, I had appreciation for Belgium's and Spain's international soccer teams, Belgium being famous for it's number of good players such as Hazard and Mertens and Spain having won a world cup before. Back when I played soccer, Messi was my favorite player, and coincidentally Catalan's capital is Barcelona, FC Barcelona being one of the best and celebrated teams in the world.
Borrowed from Independent
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My research question originally wanted to explore the social and economic after affects the Catalan rebellion had between Spain, the nation being rebelled against, and Belgium, the nation that openly "supported" the Catalans. Before my research, I knew that the answer to this question would not be clear whatsoever, and I also understood that the Catalan rebellion was no where near over. This made it extremely difficult to find good evidence for my essay as the conflict was just rising to its climax, and unfortunately it reached it climax not too long after my essay was turned in. I was only able to gather political information such as speeches from political leaders and extremely little economic information. I was hoping I would find a Spanish poll of Spanish citizen opinion of Belgium but then the essay would practically be writing itself. A little less than a month after my essay was turned in Catalan's ex-leader, Carles Puigdemont, who was in Belgium awaiting trial for rebellion and sedition had his Spanish arrest warrant withdrawn after Belgian courts delayed his trial multiple times. This allowed him to take part in Catalan's election from Belgium, where the pro-independence party came out with the majority of the votes. Now as the Catalan's create the declaration of independence, the Spanish can really only point their finger at Belgium.
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Header borrowed from Vatican City Tours