Separatism and Regionalism in Modern Europe (original) (raw)
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Basque sovereignty and contention: Nationalist collective action in the Basque country
Sovereignty Revisited: the Basque case, 2017
In contrast to other historical situations, the Basque nationalist demand for sovereignty from the late 20th century onwards was made in a relatively democratic context. The demand for self-government in the Basque territories under Spanish administration in particular coincided with a democratization process begun after the end of Franco's authoritarian regime. In positioning themselves to the transition of Spain to democracy, Basque nationalists were not homogeneous. While the moderate faction, articulated around the Basque Nationalist Party, opted to negotiate an autonomous institutional framework within the Spanish constitutional system established in 1978, the more radical sectors, headed by the Abertzale (patriotic Basque) Left, rejected this autonomy model and advocated a break-away stance backed by the armed action of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasun). This strategic divergence within Basque nationalism meant that the demands for sovereignty made by the two great Abertzale ‘families’ were configured differently. The speeches that upheld those demands, their scope, the specific proposals linked with them and the ways of manifesting them both through institutional action and through collective mobilization, have been largely at cross-purposes with one another. Thus, the nationalist contention was played out on a dual stage. On the one hand, the Basque political assertion in both its manifestations – institutional and anti-system – confronted the agents of the Spanish political system. On the other hand, on the internal stage, the two ways of making the demand for sovereignty interacted with one another contentiously. On the first stage and with regard to the main state agents, no changes of note are apparent in the conceptualization of sovereignty. However, from the early 1990s onwards, the evolution in theoretical terms that has taken place in the concept of sovereignty and in stateless nations' ways of asserting it, and the emergence of opportunities and threats in both the international and national contexts, have favoured a certain process of discursive convergence on the internal stage, always mediated by certain actors/brokers and conditioned by the party political competence existing within Basque nationalism. This strategic convergence, even though relative and fluctuating, can be understood as a manifestation consistent with the logic of the internal democratization process, insofar as the contemporary Basque nationalist contention is inseparable from that process – so much so that there is an actual overlap between state-, nation- and democracy-building in the Basque sphere.
European History Quarterly, 2009
Alejandro Quiroga 9780874176056, 39.95(hbk)BasqueNationalism,UniversityofNevadaPress:RenoNV,2006;280pp.;pp.;8425912946,22.00(pbk)AlfonsoPeˊrez−Agote,TheSocialRootsof321delnacionalismo,CentrodeEstudiosConstitucionales:Madrid,2005;Aparicio,Latierradelmartirioespanol.ElPaıˊsVascoyEspanaenelsigloLondon,2004;288pp.;9780415348140,£95.00(hbk)FernandoMolinaandTerror.ConflictingNationalismsintheBasqueCountry,Routledge:Tribe:NewStudiesontheBasqueCountry:JanMansveltBeck,TerritoryReview:BasqueNationalismandthePoliticsofthePast:TheDeathofthedelmartirioespanol.ElPaıˊsVascoyEspanaenelsiglodelnacionalismo,CentrodeEstudiosConstitucionales:Madrid,2005;321pp.;8425912946,E22.00(pbk)AlfonsoPeˊrez−Agote,TheSocialRootsofBasqueNationalism,UniversityofNevadaPress:RenoNV,2006;280pp.;9780874176056,39.95 (hbk) Basque Nationalism, University of Nevada Press: Reno NV, 2006; 280 pp.; pp.; 8425912946, 22.00 (pbk) Alfonso Pérez-Agote, The Social Roots of 321 del nacionalismo, Centro de Estudios Constitucionales: Madrid, 2005; Aparicio, La tierra del martirio español. El País Vasco y España en el siglo London, 2004; 288 pp.; 9780415348140, £95.00 (hbk) Fernando Molina and Terror. Conflicting Nationalisms in the Basque Country, Routledge: Tribe: New Studies on the Basque Country: Jan Mansvelt Beck, Territory Review: Basque Nationalism and the Politics of the Past: The Death of the del martirio español. El País Vasco y España en el siglo del nacionalismo, Centro de Estudios Constitucionales: Madrid, 2005; 321 pp.; 8425912946, E22.00 (pbk) Alfonso Pérez-Agote, The Social Roots of Basque Nationalism, University of Nevada Press: Reno NV, 2006; 280 pp.; 9780874176056, 39.95(hbk)BasqueNationalism,UniversityofNevadaPress:RenoNV,2006;280pp.;pp.;8425912946,22.00(pbk)AlfonsoPeˊrez−Agote,TheSocialRootsof321delnacionalismo,CentrodeEstudiosConstitucionales:Madrid,2005;Aparicio,Latierradelmartirioespanol.ElPaıˊsVascoyEspanaenelsigloLondon,2004;288pp.;9780415348140,£95.00(hbk)FernandoMolinaandTerror.ConflictingNationalismsintheBasqueCountry,Routledge:Tribe:NewStudiesontheBasqueCountry:JanMansveltBeck,TerritoryReview:BasqueNationalismandthePoliticsofthePast:TheDeathofthedelmartirioespanol.ElPaıˊsVascoyEspanaenelsiglodelnacionalismo,CentrodeEstudiosConstitucionales:Madrid,2005;321pp.;8425912946,E22.00(pbk)AlfonsoPeˊrez−Agote,TheSocialRootsofBasqueNationalism,UniversityofNevadaPress:RenoNV,2006;280pp.;9780874176056,39.95 (hbk) On 14 February 1996, a member of ETA entered Francisco Tomás y Valiente's office at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and shot the Professor of Law three times.
Nationalism and Democracy in the Basque Country (1979-2012)
The article explores how the federal structure of the Basque Country has checked tendencies to the centralization and concentration of political and economic power. This distinctive pattern of distributing power and political autonomy has not only led to a distinctive form of Basque democracy, but has also shaped the meaning of Basque nationalism. The analysis will illustrate that the confrontation between Basque and Spanish nationalism is as much between two national identities as it is between two different demos-building projects.
Transnationalism as a Key Trend of Regional Self-government in the Basque Country
Vestnik Rossijskogo universiteta družby narodov, 2022
The paper is dedicated to the issues of transnationalism and development of nationalism in Basque self-government. In 2021, the Basque Country resumed the debate on updating the Statute of Guernica (the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, 1979). These debates are backed by the Parliament of the Basque Country. Some key points of this discussion and current Basque regional initiatives in the European Union attract attention and may indicate the development of nationalism in the context of transnational trends and the forming of new regional identity. Methodology of the article is based on the transnationalism theory and the concept of coexistence of postnational and national as simultaneous or competing forms. Transnationalism is not a brand-new idea to Basques: some traces of transnational identity may be found in previous history. In most cases one talks about Basque nationalism (not transnationalism) referring to the period of ETA terrorist group activity which lasted till the beginning of 2010th. Since the end of the terrorist era the need for new terms and definitions for Basques nationalist movement is recognized. Despite the current high level of opponents of independence, the society is still not satisfied with the level of self-government. As a result, the problem of nationalism is greatly modified in Basque society: this is no longer a demand for the creation of an independent state, but a request for a new level of relations between the Basque Country and Spain, the Basque Country and European Union, the Basque Country and other regions; this is the demand for forming and recognition of new European regional identity. The study provides the evidence for defining this new stage in Basque self-determination movement as a nationalist and transnationalist one at the same time. In terms of this definition the concept of "Europe of the regions" is becoming relevant again and the whole situation may provide the basis for nationalist development in other European regions with similar issues.
The Importance of Historical Context: A New Discourse on the Nation in Basque Nationalism?
2017
All nationalist movements make use of a variety of aspects (language, history, race, etc.) of the territory claimed as a nation to build their discourse on said nation, and, though these discourses are often presented as something permanent and unchanging over time, they can change depending on the historical context. This is indicated by the Basque nationalist movement's two main discourses on the nation, as well as by what appears to be a tendency towards a new discourse currently being developed within this movement. The new discourse seems to have adopted the concept of democracy as a key element in its theorization.
The Role of (ETA) Violence in the Construction of Nationalism in Spain and the Basque Country
Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2007
Using the theoretical concepts of the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, the author discusses the different ways in which three political parties in Spain -PP, PSOE and PNV -construct their discourse in relation to the nation and violence. It is claimed that the PP has developed a discourse based on chains of equivalence, one of which has the nation as a nodal point and the other -the (ETA) violence. These chains are not just political but also ethical constructions. The PSOE bases its discourse on the logic of difference, which attempts to expand the political field to include more and more elements, but sometimes fails to renegotiate some important concepts. The PNV is in a constant fluctuation between the sovereignist position of a permanent struggle to preserve the Basque identity and to liberate the Basque Country and the autonomist position where the logic of difference is employed and only violence is left aside. SEN 7.3.indb 78
"From ethnic exclusion to terrorism? The case of radical Basque nationalism"
Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies , 2018
This article reflects upon the beginnings and development of radical Basque nationalism in light of its ethnic exclusion criteria. We argue that the existence of a tradition of “strong” alterity does not necessarily lead to the appearance of tendencies favoring the use of violence to confront the other. Without rejecting the importance of a discourse of hate proceeding from the past, such tendencies are due more to a combination of the historical context and individual and group decisions. It is important to bear this in mind to underscore the responsibilities of those who were not satisfied with constructing the image of a despicable enemy, but instead decided to employ violence to solve the problem that the latter might cause.