Territory and Terror: Conflicting Nationalisms in the Basque Country

by Mansvelt Beck,Jan

• ISBN13: 9780415348140
• ISBN10: 0415348145
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

All Basque interpretations of national power have resulted in an uneasy mix of often fragmented and conflicting territorial identifications. Basques can identify themselves with France, Spain or an imagined Basque nation state. Territory and Terror confronts the imagined and actual territorial dimensions of nationalism, shedding new light on the Basque conflict. The study provides a rich description of territoriality analyzed from a comparative perspective and explores the relation between territoriality and regional differences in conflict intensity. It supplies an account of the often-overlooked internal struggles between Basques, arguing that overestimation of Basque nationalism as the ideological force behind the conflict often leads to a disregard of the identification of many with France or Spain. In addition, the author investigates the conflicts between Basque nationalists themselves over key issues such as terrorist activity. Territory and Terrorwill appeal to students andresearchers of nationalism and territoriality, in particular to those with an interest in the Basque country.

Author Biography

Jan Mansvelt Beck is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Amsterdam.

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
List of tables	xi
Acknowledgements	xii
1 Introduction	1	(18)
The problem	3	(1)
Approaches to conflicting nationalisms	4	(4)
The spacing and timing of nationalist conflict: a descriptive and interpretative frame	8	(9)
Method, scope and outline	17	(2)
2 The French-Basque experience: how Basques became French	19	(22)
Nationalist messages	19	(2)
Basque elite and the spread of French nationalism	21	(7)
Frenchi cation	28	(4)
Development of a strong state	32	(5)
Territorial administration: cosmetic decentralization	37	(1)
The current situation: the present distribution of Frenchness	38	(3)
3 The Spanish-Basque experience: a case of weak nation-state building	41	(36)
Nationalist messages	42	(4)
Basque elite and the spread of Spanish nationalism	46	(12)
Castilianization	58	(3)
Weak-state development	61	(7)
Territorial administration: decentralization	68	(2)
The current state: the present distribution of Spanishness	70	(4)
France and Spain compared	74	(3)
4 Euskal Herria: rhetoric of commonness versus uncommon practice	77	(20)
Introduction	77	(1)
Nationalist claims: a short history of territorial and linguistic demands	77	(3)
Language and identity	80	(4)
Contact space and cross-border contacts	84	(3)
Nationalist symbols and practice of Euskal Herria	87	(7)
Conclusion: the territorial dimension of the imagined community	94	(3)
5 Basque nationalism: a recent and modes phenomenon	97	(29)
Nationalist messages	97	(3)
Mobilization behind new messages: process and pattern	100	(9)
A social ecology of mobilization	109	(9)
State reactions to language and territorial claims	118	(6)
Conclusion	124	(2)
6 Euskadi as a weak proto-state: the fragmentation of Basque society	126	(50)
Nationalist messages	127	(4)
Mobilization behind new messages: process and pattern in the pre-Franco period	131	(4)
Institutions of mobilization after Franco	135	(10)
A social ecology of mobilization	145	(9)
Accommodation and the regionalization of infrastructural power in Euskadi	154	(14)
Accommodation in Navarra: real or cosmetic?	168	(6)
Conclusion	174	(2)
7 The spatial dimension of violence: beyond the fracture lines	176	(29)
Manifestations of political violence	177	(8)
From spiral of violence to 'pain socialization'	185	(1)
Ideological and organizational features of the adversaries in the conflict	186	(6)
A geography of support for violence	192	(4)
Supportive economy	196	(3)
Anti-system features of violence-rejecting nationalist parties	199	(3)
Conclusion	202	(3)
8 Conflict solutions: past and future scenarios	205	(20)
The failure of short-term rapprochement	206	(2)
Institutionalization of conflict resolution and its impact on violence	208	(11)
Scenarios for peace	219	(6)
9 Conclusion	225	(8)
Bibliography	233	(20)
Index	253