Revolución/Contrarrevolución

"In Spain, where once Unamuno and Ortega anguished over the essence of the nation – was its flaw a cult of isolating purity, or a lack ot élites to give it backbone? – a robust pragmatism now rules. In no country are the prosperous and educated so determined to shed everything formerly taken for national characteristics (cult of pride, disdain for work, austerity, fanaticism etc). Here, as in Italy too, European integration represents upward, not downward, national mobility – an opportunity to rise above traditional identity rather than a potential threat to it. The only prime minister thinking of changing his post for the Presidency of the Commission is in Madrid".

Perry Anderson "Nation-States and National Identity" (1991)