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Breaking up is hard to do

Catalonia's leading pro-independence party suffered an unexpected and embarrassing defeat this week.

People's Party supporters on Spain's election day
Photo by: REUTERS
Voters in the Spanish region of Catalonia, which includes the picturesque city of Barcelona, shocked observers this week by voting against independence, despite a strong pro-secession movement.  Interestingly, this electoral rebuke occurs as Scotland is starting preparations for its own referendum on leaving the United Kingdom, and even the United States is hearing whispers, somewhat facetiously, of secession by “red states” who resent the re-election of US President Barack Obama.

For centuries, bigger was better.  Nations wanted as much territory and resources under their control as possible, leading to empires, colonization and rapid expansion across (nearly) vacant territories.  Recently, however, the trend has been to breaking up into smaller, more cohesive components.

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