The Issue of Gibraltar’s Sovereignty and Spain’s Territorial Integrity. What could Spain do to Resolve the Gibraltar Problem?

Abstract

The maintenance of Spain’s territorial integrity strongly depends on the integration of Gibraltar into the Kingdom of Spain.Spain has repeatedly tried to regain control over the Rock - a British Overseas Territory - by both military and diplomatic means.The decline of Spanish imperial power and the British preeminence during the 19th century made any recovery attempt bySpain futile. Following World War II, Spain reactivated its claim over Gibraltar and Gibraltar’s integration into the kingdomof Spain has remained a stated objective of successive Spanish governments. Negotiations between Spanish and Britishauthorities remain unproductive and the issue of Gibraltar remains unresolved. Spanish national unity rules out the right toself-determination on which the Gibraltarians themselves insist and the Spanish government continues to treat the Gibraltarianproblem as a bilateral matter between United Kingdom and Spain, thereby ignoring the economic, social, and political interestsof Gibraltarians. This analysis questions the strategies and policies employed by the Spanish government when addressingthe current Gibraltarian crisis.