This PhD thesis analyses how the idea around a Catalan identity is constructed in XXIst century Catalan official political discourse. It departs from the main premises of Derridean philosophy - such as deconstruction, différance and trace - and the International Relations literature influenced by them, in order to analyse, through the methodological lenses of postfoundational discourse analysis, how Catalan official political discourse articulates the idea of a distinctive Catalan identity, and how this identity forms the backbone of the [latest] claim to political independence. It is argued that the conveyed conceptualisation of national identity is heavily dependent on logocentric constructions grounded on the metaphysical idea of presence. The claim to independence - depicted as a battle between two separate entities, Catalonia and Spain - rather than an inalienable right to self-determination, is better understood as a constant articulating and intertwining of concepts like nation, state, people, identity, history and projected future. Far from being neutral or objective, these concepts are actually struggling for stabilisation, and depend on each other to create meaning and the impression of presence that results thereof. Through an endless process of repetition, remission and referencing, discourse creates the notion of a natural, self-evident Catalan identity, intrinsically unique and rightfully deserving of recognition in the form of the modern national state. In other words, contemporary official political discourse ends up performing the Catalan identity it is said to represent.