In this Commentary LISD Faculty Associate Carles Boix provides historical context for the October 2017 Catalonia referendum, and analyzes the future of relations between Spain and Catalonia. "[I]n this relationship," Boix asserts, "neither side is genuinely free. The two parties are, in different ways, chained or subjected to one another." Boix therefore asks two questions key to the Catalonia-Spain impasse: "Is there any federation that includes constitutional mechanisms to prevent the exploitation of one of its members by the remaining members of that federation? And, additionally, is that type of federation possible in Spain?"