Spain and the Basque Country - A Case Study

Spain and the Basque Country - A Case Study PDF

Author: Stefan Vedder

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 41

ISBN-13: 3640698398

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Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 1,0, University of Wales, Aberystwyth (Department of International Politics), language: English, abstract: Basques are living in seven provinces at the Bay of Biscay on the territories of France (three rather small provinces) and Spain, which constitute the "greater Basque Country‟ or "Euskal Herria‟. In Spain the southern - and by far bigger - part of Euskal Herria consists of the autonomous community Navarra and the autonomous community Basque Country ("Euskadi‟) with its three provinces Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya. Basque nationalists in Euskadi claim especially Navarra as part of their territory. The Basque conflict can be described as a nationalist struggle based on ethnicity which is particularly vital - and violent - in Euskadi. Nationalists in the Basque Country are claiming the right for self-determination and sovereignty in contrast to the Spanish government, which is reluctant to grant the Basques sovereignty. Attacks executed by the separatist terrorist group ETA, which have yet left more than 800 dead, are the violent excesses of the conflict. The case study pays special attention to the distinct features of the conflict by analysing the Basque society. As there has not yet been any progressed peace process, the hitherto existing efforts towards peace are being traced and those problems revealed (especially the issue of "spoiling‟) that prevented a sustainable peace process from getting kicked off. A glance into the future is then dared that takes into consideration recent political changes.

The Basque Country

The Basque Country PDF

Author: Paddy Woodworth

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0195328000

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The Basque Country is a land of fascinating paradoxes and enigmas. Home to one of Europe's oldest peoples and most mysterious languages, with a living folklore rich in archaic rituals and dances, it also boasts a dynamic modern energy, with the reinvention of Bilbao creating a model for the twenty-first-century city.In The Basque Country, Paddy Woodworth takes us on a sweeping tour of this enchanting land. We discover a small territory which abounds in big contrasts, ranging from moist green valleys to semi-desert badlands, from snowy sierras to sandy beaches, from harsh industrial landscapes to bucolic beech woods. The book reveals how this often idyllic scenery forms the backdrop for a land of ancient and modern culture, where Basque poets still compose spontaneous stanzas in public contests and where strange age-old sports--rock lifting, goose decapitation--are still held at fiestas. Likewise, the region has made important contributions to modern culture, through novelists like Bernardo Atxaga, sculptors like Eduardo Chillida, painters like Zuluoaga, and cineastes like Julio Medem. And of course Bilbao's flagship museum, the Guggenheim, designed by Frank O. Gehry, may be the best work of architecture of the last century.Here then is a marvelous guide to the culture and landscape of one of the most intriguing places on Earth.

Territorial Politics and the Party System in Spain:

Territorial Politics and the Party System in Spain: PDF

Author: Caroline Gray

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-21

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1000062589

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Across Western Europe, the global financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath not only brought economic havoc but also, in turn, intense political upheaval. Many of the political manifestations of the crisis seen in other Western and especially Southern European countries also hit Spain, where challenger parties caused unprecedented parliamentary fragmentation, resulting in four general elections in under four years from 2015 onwards. Yet Spain, a decentralised state where extensive powers are devolved to 17 regions known as ‘autonomous communities’, also stood out from its neighbours due to the importance of the territorial dimension of politics in shaping the political expression of the crisis. This book explains how and why the territorial dimension of politics contributed to shaping party system continuity and change in Spain in the aftermath of the financial crisis, with a particular focus on party behaviour. The territorial dimension encompasses the demands for ever greater autonomy or even sovereignty coming from certain parties within the historic regions of the Basque Country, Catalonia and, to a lesser extent, Galicia. It also encompasses where these historic regions sit within the broader dynamics of intergovernmental relations across Spain’s 17 autonomous communities in total, and how these dynamics contribute to shaping party strategies and behaviour in Spain. Such features became particularly salient in the aftermath of the financial crisis since this coincided with, and indeed accelerated, the rise of the independence movement in Catalonia.

Sovereignty Revisited

Sovereignty Revisited PDF

Author: Åshild Kolås

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-08-07

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1351656287

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This book explores the new debates on Basque sovereignty and statehood that have emerged in the post-violence Basque political scenario. It deciphers how sovereignty is understood or imagined by a revitalized civil society after the unilateral cessation of operations by ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom). The contributors to this book investigate the new political field developing in the nexus between conventional party politics, established socio-cultural and linguistic organizations, creative civil society initiatives, and innovative activism. This book is for graduate students, scholars and professionals in political science, social anthropology, European studies, political philosophy, transnational studies, sociology, political geography, and global studies. It will also be of interest to academic specialists in Basque studies, specialists working on sovereignty, nationalism and globalization, and professionals in governance, international relations, foreign affairs, European politics and diplomacy.

Peacemaking in the Basque Country

Peacemaking in the Basque Country PDF

Author: Siamak Khatami

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1481785974

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In recent years, not only in Spain but in the West in general, we have been witnesses to a war against phenomena broadly grouped together under the heading of "terrorism," and yet the problem not only continues, but moreover, there does not appear to be any major signal that would indicate to us that those who belong to "the other side"—the "terrorists"—may be weakening. Just as in Afghanistan, President Obama's administration appears to have settled on a policy of separating the moderates from the radicals within the ranks of the Taliban and seeing into the possibilities of negotiating with them. In Spain too, various administrations, ever since democracy returned to Spain with the death of Franco on November 20, 1975, and the promulgation of a new constitution on December 6, 1977, have tried to negotiate with Euskadi eta Askatasuna—ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language)—in order to end the problem of nationalist-separatist political violence in the Basque Country in northern Spain, including the provinces of Araba, Gipúzkoa, Navarre, and Bizkaia.

Endgame for ETA

Endgame for ETA PDF

Author: Teresa Whitfield

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-07-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0190238046

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The violent Basque separatist group ETA took shape in Franco's Spain, yet claimed the majority of its victims under democracy. For most Spaniards it became an aberration, a criminal and terrorist band whose persistence defied explanation. Others, mainly Basques (but only some Basques) understood ETA as the violent expression of a political conflict that remained the unfinished business of Spain's transition to democracy. Such differences hindered efforts to 'defeat' ETA's terrorism on the one hand and 'resolve the Basque conflict' on the other for more than three decades. Endgame for ETA offers a compelling account of the long path to ETA's declaration of a definitive end to its armed activity in October 2011. Its political surrogates remain as part of a resurgence of regional nationalism - in the Basque Country as in Catalonia - that is but one element of multiple crises confronting Spain. The Basque case has been cited as an ex- ample of the perils of 'talking to terrorists'. Drawing on extensive field research, Teresa Whitfield argues that while negotiations did not prosper, a form of 'virtual peacemaking' was an essential complement to robust police action and social condemnation. Together they helped to bring ETA's violence to an end and return its grievances to the channels of normal politics.

Ethnicity and Violence

Ethnicity and Violence PDF

Author: Diego Muro

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1134167687

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This book provides a genealogy of radical Basque nationalism and the means by which this complex, often violent, political movement has reinforced Basque identity. Radical nationalists are mobilized by a shared frame of reference where ethnicity and violence are intertwined in a nostalgic recreation of a golden age and a quasi-religious imperative to restore that distant past. Muro critically examines the origins of the ethno-nationalist conflict and provides a comprehensive examination of Euskadi Ta Askatusana’s (ETA) violent campaign. The book analyzes the interplay of ethnicity and violence and stresses the role of inherited myths, memories, and cultural symbols to explain the ability of radical Basque nationalism to endure.

Endgame for ETA

Endgame for ETA PDF

Author: Teresa Whitfield

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-07-01

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 0190237937

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The violent Basque separatist group ETA took shape in Franco's Spain, yet claimed the majority of its victims under democracy. For most Spaniards it became an aberration, a criminal and terrorist band whose persistence defied explanation. Others, mainly Basques (but only some Basques) understood ETA as the violent expression of a political conflict that remained the unfinished business of Spain's transition to democracy. Such differences hindered efforts to 'defeat' ETA's terrorism on the one hand and 'resolve the Basque conflict' on the other for more than three decades. Endgame for ETA offers a compelling account of the long path to ETA's declaration of a definitive end to its armed activity in October 2011. Its political surrogates remain as part of a resurgence of regional nationalism - in the Basque Country as in Catalonia - that is but one element of multiple crises confronting Spain. The Basque case has been cited as an ex- ample of the perils of 'talking to terrorists'. Drawing on extensive field research, Teresa Whitfield argues that while negotiations did not prosper, a form of 'virtual peacemaking' was an essential complement to robust police action and social condemnation. Together they helped to bring ETA's violence to an end and return its grievances to the channels of normal politics.

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