In performing to great effect the roles of martyr and strongman, Mr. Puigdemont and Mr. Rajoy are trying to score political points even as Spain careens toward political disaster.

Despite the declaration of independence, Catalonia is no freer today that it was before. In fact, in light of Madrid’s invocation of Article 155, it is less free. Moreover, the prospects for independence remain bleak: The project for Catalan independence has gained little traction internationally. Some 1,700 businesses have transferred their headquarters to other parts of Spain. More important, there is no clear majority of Catalans clamoring for independence. Polls consistently show that the region’s voters are split between independence and remaining within Spain.

Mr. Puigdemont’s separatist agenda has been set by the most extremist elements of his governing coalition. In the 2015 regional elections, he was able to form a government only after striking an alliance with the Popular Unity Candidacy, or CUP as it is known by its Catalan acronym, a small, radical and leaderless group. For the CUP, it is independence or nothing. In the days before the declaration, CUP leaders warned that they were “ready to walk” from the coalition if an unambiguous declaration of independence was not forthcoming. Mr. Puigdemont’s declaration of independence has delivered in spades for the CUP.

It seems Mr. Puigdemont would rather be a martyr than a traitor. In any case, in the wake of the invocation of Article 155, martyrdom provides a useful platform for keeping the Catalan separatist movement alive by advancing the dubious narrative of Spain as an oppressor of human rights and political freedoms.

For Mr. Rajoy, who has had its own problems keeping himself in power in Madrid (it took two elections, in 2015 and 2016, for him to retain his premiership), holding the line on Catalan independence plays to the wishes of conservative Spanish voters who form the bulk of his Popular Party’s constituency, and who expect nothing else from him. For the Spanish right, which has only grudgingly come to accept the notion of a multicultural Spain and all that it entails, like autonomy for separatist-minded regions, the idea of a strong leader standing up to regional extremists holds tremendous appeal. Mr. Rajoy also hopes to make the Catalan crisis a teaching moment to other restive regions in Spain, especially the violence-prone Basque Country.

Activating Article 155, something that no other Spanish prime minister has ever done before, takes the game of chicken between Mr. Puigdemont and Mr. Rajoy to a new level of political drama, sanctimoniousness and uncertainty.

The big loser is the people of Spain, including the majority of Catalans, who throughout this ordeal have consistently called for the one thing that neither martyrs nor strongmen are particularly good at: dialogue and compromise.