  Spontaneous breaking of symmetries leads to universal phenomena. We extend
this notion to $(-1)$-form U(1) symmetries. The spontaneous breaking is
diagnosed by a dependence of the vacuum energy on a constant background field
$\theta$, which can be probed by the topological susceptibility. This leads to
a reinterpretation of the Strong CP problem as arising from a spontaneously
broken instantonic symmetry in QCD. We discuss how known solutions to the
problem are unified in this framework and explore some, so far unsuccessful,
attempts to find new solutions.
