Nationalism and Democracy in the Basque Country (1979–2012)

Abstract

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.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express her thanks to the anonymous peer reviewers and to all the participants in the various ECPR sessions in Edinburgh and Canterbury, especially Eve Hepburn and Michael Keating for their feedback. Her sincerest gratitude goes to Tomas Flanagan, John Dunn and Will Kymlicka for their reviews and unstinting advice. This research has been financed by the Government of the Basque Country and developed within Ikertzaileen Prestakuntzarako Programme and the Partehartuz Consolidated Research Team (UPV-EHU).

Notes

‘The Basque Country’ in this paper will refer to the Basque Autonomous Community made up of three Territories: Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. This Community does not include the Foral Community of Navarre and the Northern Basque Country (in France).

Organic Law 3/1979 (EHAA: 1980-01-12).

‘Law governing the relationship between the Common Institutions of the Basque Country and the Foral Bodies of its Historic Territories,’ 27/1983 (EHAA: 182/1983-12-10). See also the Statute of Autonomy, 1979, Art. 42.

Organic Law 12/1981 and 4/2002 (EHAA: 2002-05-24).

See Eustat, 2011 (http://en.eustat.es). The latest UN Development Index was published in 2011, but the comparison between regions and states has still to be worked out. Obviously, in a comparison between regions the BC would appear in a lower position. However, the relevant figure is that according to the Index the three Basque Territories' individual rates are very similar, with Araba occupying first place in the world, Gipuzkoa third place and Bizkaia seventh.

Electoral Law 5/1990: Heading II. Electoral System.

This allowance is determined according to different variables: Relative Cost of Assumed Powers (competences), Provincial Revenue (GDP) and the tax burden imposed by each Provincial Council.

Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia, Aurrenkontuak, 2011, available online at: http://www.gipuzkoa.net/

The Basque Finance Council is where representatives of the three Territories (one per Territory) and of the Basque Government agree the transfer of money from the former to the latter on the basis of specific projects. See: LHT, 27/1983 Heading II; Arts. 20-29-30.

See the Statute of Autonomy, 3/1979, Headings I-II; Arts. 10-12, 16-19, 37- 41 and the LHT, 21/1983, Heading II; Arts. 7-13, 15-22.

See Esping-Andersen (1990) and Huber & Stephens (2001) for the consequences that active participation by women in the labour force has in determining the socio-economic model and welfare regime.

The Plan for Technological Strategy (1990–1993); the Plan for Industrial Technology (1993–1996); the Plan for Science and Technology (1997–2000).

During the 1990s diverse political forces joined the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in forming the Basque Government: PSE-PSOE (Basque branch of Spanish socialists), EA and EE (Basque nationalists and socialists).

Source: BBVA-Ivie (2008); España en cifras (INE, 2010, available online at: http://www.ine.es/).

See Udalmap (www.eustat.euskadi.net, 2011) for indicators and facilities by municipality.

An asterisk denotes research that has been financed by the Government of the Basque Country and developed within the Ikertzaileen Prestakuntzarako Programme and the Partehartuz Consolidated Research Team (UPV-EHU).

See Dahl (1990, p. 137) and Hall (1999, p. 148) for further arguments that support a causal relationship between political structures, welfare policies and socio-economic models.

From 1998 to 2009 the Government was formed by the PNV and EA, and from 2005 onwards United Left (IU) joined them.

Newspapers, foundations, publishing companies, etc. were closed; Basque was annulled as an official language in the capital of Navarre; and tortures of Basque detainees were reported by Amnesty International (2004, 2009) and the UN (2002, 2004, 2008).

Basque Project for the Reform of the Statute of Autonomy, 2004 (available at: ftp://gvas.euskadi.net/pub/gv/infogv/estatuto_vasco_c.pdf).

See the Sentence of the Spanish Constitutional Court: STC 103/2008.

See the Spanish Constitution Arts. 1, 2, 8 and the Constitution's and the Statute of Autonomy's First Additional Provisions.

The so-called ‘constitutionalists’ have, since 1980, passed a number of basic laws that have restricted the scope of the Basque Statute's competences, such as the LOAPA in 1982 (Tamayo, 2008, p. 29). For further reading on the main legal and political elements that have led to the erosion of the Basque Statute, see Tamayo (2007) and Ordozgoiti (2010). See also McRoberts (2001, p. 72), Cairns (1988, pp. 237–238) and Burgess (2009, p. 185) for similar examples in Catalonia and Quebec.

ETA declared the final cessation of its armed activity on 20 October 2011.

See the Ruling of 28 June 2010 on the New Catalan Statute of Autonomy as an example of the current dominant interpretation of the Constitution on such matters.

Negotiations are conducted by the ‘Mixed Committees’ made up of six representatives of the central executive, three from the Basque Government and three from the Territories.

A confederal pact with the state has also been requested by the CIU (the main Catalonian party, and ERC as well) and by the BNG (Galician nationalist party) in various declarations throughout the twentieth century and continuing into the twenty-first. See GALEUSCA (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galeusca-Pueblos_de_Europa). To read the 1998 joint declaration by the PNV, BNG and CIU, see Tamayo (2007, pp. 739–740); and for a brief historical review of this demand, see Tamayo (2008, pp. 71–73).

See Herrero de Miñón (1998) and Lojendio (1988) for different interpretations of the Constitutional First Additional Provision: ‘The Constitution protects and respects the historical rights of the territories with Fueros’.

See the Spanish Supreme Court's jurisprudence SS 22 July 1986 (FFJJ 6°, 9°) and of 1 February 1993, 7 June 1993 and 12 June 1996.

Many examples may be put forward: take, for instance, the 2007 Autonomous Community elections in Navarre, where socialists from Navarre decided to govern with Nafarroa Bai, a coalition of Basque nationalist parties (PNV, EA and Aralar); but their own party in Madrid, the PSOE, forbade them.

The single currency is a perfect example of this transformation (Keating, 2000, p. 41).

When asked about the reform of the Statute of Autonomy of 1979 only 14.4% think that it is unnecessary (CIS, 2005, available online at: http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/EN/index.html).

Proposta de reforma de l'Estatut d'autonomia de Catalunya, 2005. This was approved by 89% of the Catalonian Parliament. However, this Statute was later modified by the Spanish Congress and the Courts, who deleted the word ‘nation’ from the text and removed all those articles related to an independent Judicial System and a Catalonian Public Finance System, among other features.

This does not mean that there is just one Basque political nationalism. ‘Basque nationalism’ refers here to the lowest common denominator: to those demands expressed in the New Statute of Free Association. It is worth remembering that political nationalism took precedence over cultural and historical nationalism in the first quarter of the twentieth century (Hutchinson & Smith, 1994; Breuilly, 1994; Medrano, 1995; Keating, 1996); however, it was only in the latter part of that century, after Franco's death and when the updated Foral and federal structure was implemented in the 1980s, that it began coalescing as the Basque population's main option or project.

See Deeg (1995) on German cooperative federalism. It enables a comparison to be made between the German Länder and the Basque Territories.

Seven New Statutes of Autonomy were approved between 2003 and 2007 in Spain: for Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Castile-Leon and Valencia. For a brief review in English, see Wilson & Keating (2009).