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Chapter Four. The Democratic State
- University of Nevada Press
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By the time Spain began its transition toward democracy, Basque nationalism was a potent political force. The sequential chain represented by the institutional mutations of the Spanish state had taken it from a marginal movement spearheaded by conservative politicians to a vigorous, popular, and also multidimensional one. By the last quarter of the twentieth century, it was not only that the Basque nationalist movement was fundamentally different from fifty or one hundred years before, but also that the institutional context was changing one more time in a most fundamental way. Basque nationalism was central in shaping this new institutional environment, and the historical trajectory of the Basque provinces’ political and institutional development factored heavily in the determination of their own status. As much as Basque nationalism contributed to shaping the specific configuration of the new state, the future and nature of nationalist politics in the Basque Country were very much open-ended in the late 1970s. Basque nationalism was entering near-uncharted territory: it would now operate within a democratic decentralized state, something that had not occurred since the Second Republic. The main argument of this chapter is that the Spanish Estado de las Autonomías not only allowed for the expression of Basque nationalism, but also stimulated its development by providing an institutional setting that generated political dynamics and patterns of relationships conducive to nationalist politics. Much like in the late nineteenth century or during the dictatorship, the democratic period features a causal mechanism between the Spanish state and the development of Basque nationalism. This causality, however, is not as straightforward as the ones involving the centralizing and authoritarian state, respectively. Rather, it needs some disentanglement. There are four patterns of relationships stemming from the Spanish system of autonomous communities that have stimulated and configured nationalist politics in the Basque Country. The first pattern involves the political opposition between Basque nationalist and non-Basque nationalist forces within the Basque Country. Nationalism is a powerful force in Basque politics, but it is certainly not without its opponents. The existence of such a dialectical relationship is full of implications for Basque nationalists who, for example, are never in a position to say that their claims are supported by all Basques. The second pattern is also endogenous to the Basque Country and features moderate and radical nationalists. The relationship between Chapter Four The Democratic State 83 The Democratic State 84 these two groups is ambiguous, and its subtle nuances have strongly marked the direction of Basque nationalism, including the use of violence. The third pattern is between the Basque and Spanish governments. This relationship, which is more fluid than sometimes assumed because it is conditioned by the contingencies of electoral politics, is central in shaping discourses and practices about the political position and status of the Basque Country within Spain. Finally, Spain’s decentralized framework triggered mainly competitive relations between many of Spain’s autonomous communities, including the Basque Country, which spurred claims for autonomy and distinctiveness. This was a rather new element for nationalist politics in Spain since regions such as the Basque Country and Cataluña had typically articulated their claims purely in reference to the Spanish state rather than other territories. After having discussed the immediate impact of the creation of the new Spanish institutions in the late 1970s, this chapter traces the evolution of Basque nationalism over the last twenty-five years in reference to the four patterns of political relationships mentioned above. Once again, the core argument is that these patterns are the consequence, at least partially unintended, of the new institutional environment designed during the transition. Basque Nationalism and Spain’s Democratic Transition The death of General Franco in November 1975 signaled the beginning of Spain’s transition toward democracy. The dictatorship had considerably weakened during the 1960s and early 1970s, but it is with the passing of Franco that genuine political change became possible and indeed inevitable in Spain. The Spanish democratic transition is generally hailed as a complete success,1 and, as a consequence , it has contributed to rehabilitating Spanish nationalism. The transition clearly involved a redefinition of this nationalism. The idea of a Spanish nation characterized by cultural homogeneity and mystical unity underpinned by strong centralism was not tenable for a large segment of Spanish society. At the same time, notions of Spanish nationhood anchored in the belief in a common past and future could not be sacrificed. As a result, the political dynamic characterizing the transition involved a delicate balance between an...