Basque Case Research Articles

Power‐sharing coalitions in the Basque Country (1987–1998): centripetal coalitions vs. consociational coalitions

AbstractFrom 1987 to 1998, the Basque government was made up of a coalition between Basque nationalists and unionists. However, there are doubts about whether this experience has a consociational character. In order to clarify this, the article analyses the four characteristics of Lijphart's scheme, focussing on the degree of power‐sharing of the Basque governments using the qualitative distinction of McGarry and O'Leary and the centripetal approach, creating the power‐sharing in government index and studying the degree of ideological proximity of the parties making up the coalition. The conclusions are that in the Basque case, there were no complete or concurrent consociational governments, but instead, there were centripetal coalitions. Furthermore, it makes clear that an electoral system with high proportionality is an obstacle when it comes to maintaining cross‐segment governments in societies that lack stability in the correlation of forces among segments and use centripetal power‐sharing coalitions or weak or concurrent consotiational coalitions. The most realistic choice in order to preserve the power‐sharing government would be adopting a proportional sequential coalition and a proportional electoral system with significative electoral threshold to avoid the emergence of anti‐consociational parties.

Language competence assessment in minoritised language revitalisation contexts. The case of Basque

ABSTRACTIn minority language revitalisation contexts, the determination of proficiency in the minoritised language is a sensitive social issue that affects citizens regardless of their linguistic background. From a psychometric perspective, since the target population is heterogeneous, competence assessment instruments must ensure score validity for each linguistic subgroup. Focused on the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain), in this paper, we introduce the Basque Competence Assessment examination (known by its acronym EGA) and assess the factorial invariance of the writing section using a structural equation modelling approach. Data were collected from 2554 candidates classified into three groups according to mother tongue: Spanish, Basque, and Basque/Spanish. The results show the near invariance of the writing section of the EGA and that the highest performance was found in the Basque mother-tongue examinees. Results also reinforce the importance of validation analysis in language diversity contexts to guarantee fairness in test-based decisions.

The Roots of the 1909 Republican-Socialist Alliance: Changes in the Class Emotional Regime in 1903 in Biscay

This article explores the roots of the 1909 Republican-Socialist Alliance with the theoretical and methodological tools provided by the emotional turn. This alliance has been considered in most of the historiography to be the product of a political context. In analyzing the Basque case in this article, I will examine how the central ingredient of that coalition was the change in the class emotional tone and emotional regime starting in 1903. The hegemonic “Red Socialist emotional regime” was challenged for the first time that year, and the definition of class, class emotional tone and class political goals were brought into question at that moment, which is where I situate the roots of the Republican-Socialist Alliance. The anticlerical events of that time, the approval of the Proposicion Quejido (Quejido Proposal), and the founding of the Socialist Youth organization all provide evidence of the shift in the working-class movement.

Freedom Waves: Giving People a Voice and Turning It Up! Tuning into the Free Radio Network in the Basque Country

In this article we propose a historical chronicle about the role of the free radios and community spaces of social communication in the Southern Basque Country, analysing recent changes in this field and its implications. The Basque case is meaningful in two ways: quantitatively, because of the high number of these free radio stations since the eighties; and also, because of the current changes in the political context, a less conflictual scenario. Starting with an analysis of the contemporary reality of the Southern Basque Country and of two free radio stations – Hala Bedi Irratia and Eguzki Irratia – this article looks at the hybridisation between alternative social movements and media. We look at the progressive evolution towards stable funding formulas (memberships) and the openness and quality of this type of radio. Finally, we highlight a fundamental difference between media such as free radio in contrast to mass self-communication through ICTs: besides the message, the media is (self-)constructed collectively by those involved.

Children’s Literature and Nation Building: The Basque Case

The Basque Country is a stateless nation located in the western part of the Pyrenees, divided between France and Spain. The romanticist nationalist trend that emerged in Europe throughout the nineteenth century gave rise to a nationalist feeling in the Basque Country that has been fed, among others, by children’s literature. Children’s literature written in Basque throughout the twentieth century in many cases had a clear educational intentionality. The need to create a Basque community, a tradition and customs of their own during Francoism resulted in the production of a literature with a clear nationalist profile. Nevertheless, the political change after the end of the Franco dictatorship, with greater freedom and autonomy for the Basque Country, gave rise to a literary production in which those aesthetic values prevail. A literature that, from the local perspective, encompasses universal subjects in which emphasizing the specificities of the Basque is no longer necessary, as today it aims to present individual and universal conflicts.

Secondary foreign policy activities in Third sector cross-border cooperation as conflict transformation in the European Union: The cases of the Basque and Irish borderscapes

ABSTRACTThis paper provides a comparative examination of Third (non-public, non-profit) sector cross-border cooperation contributing to conflict transformation in the Basque (France/Spain) and Irish (UK/Ireland) borderscapes. The comparison is based on the premise that the European Union (EU) played a different role in both cases. In the Irish case, the EU contributed to the institutionalization of a peace process that included cross-border cooperation between Third sector organizations among its policy instruments contributing to conflict transformation. In the Basque case, the unilateral renunciation of violence by ETA (Euskadi eta Askatasuna) in 2010 did not generate the consistent involvement of the EU in an institutional peace process. However, some Third sector organizations became secondary foreign policy actors using EU instruments for cross-border economic, social, and cultural cooperation between France and Spain in order to reinforce their cross-border networks, which indirectly impacted on conflict transformation.

The Role of Translation in the Revitalization Process of Minority Languages: The Case of Basque

Summary All literature reflects the existing discourse in a given community, and translation –as a process of rewriting texts– is a readily accessible tool which linguistic minorities can use to shift power dynamics in their society or, at least, suggest new paradigms and new discourses. In this paper we analyze the key role which translation plays in the cultural systems of minority languages and how translation helps revitalize these languages. The aim of the paper is to defend this key role of translation in the revitalization processes of all minority languages and, at the same time, to highlight the main obstacles one may come across and to try to establish some basic guidelines which may be applied throughout all these processes to maximize their results. Therefore, this paper deals with language standardization, language planning, choice of texts to translate, source languages of the translations, target audience of the translations, diglossia, actual bilingualism, language orientation in translations and the dichotomy between originals written in the language and translations. In order to do so, we will first picture the theoretical frame upon which this paper is based and we will go on to discuss translation into Basque. Finally, we will establish a set of guidelines for other minority languages.

How terrorism ends – and does not end: the Basque case

ABSTRACTThis article examines the end of ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna “Euskadi and Freedom”) in the light of the literature on “how terrorism ends”. Was it the result of police repression, defeat, negotiation, elimination, tactical success? Was it the result of military failure but not defeat? What role did the rebellion of its own social base play? Was it, in the end, a case of political transformation? The discourse of “unilateralism” developed by the Basque Nationalist Left is examined. The role of international actors and the so-called “virtual diplomacy” is situated in the context of the State and the global order. But did ETA really end? Four years after ETA declared its unconditional ceasefire, and after the international media considered it finished, the Spanish government does not think so. In conclusion, the article considers the lessons that derive from the Basque case regarding the issues of how terrorist groups end.

Women Policymakers Framing their Leadership and Lives in Relation to Terrorism: The Basque Case

ABSTRACTWe examine terrorism from the perspective of women political elites in the Basque regions of Spain and France, asking whether women are present as policymakers in terrorism politics and how they frame the impact of terrorism on their leadership and lives. To assess women’s presence as policymakers, we report the representation of Spanish and French women in executive leadership and terrorism-related portfolios. We find that women are not equally represented, and they do not participate at the highest levels of terrorism policymaking. To understand how women frame their leadership and lives as related to terrorism, we analyze 14 interviews of women politicians, in which women express that they are equal to men and frame their actions in terms of maternal identity and their claimed ability to relate to citizens. By reporting the frames women politicians use to describe themselves, this article shows how women politicians negotiate gender identities as related to terrorism policy and shows that women politicians have a complex understanding of gender as it relates to equality, care, and terrorism.

Directing Disengagement

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between the structure of politico-military movements and effective insurgent engagement in peace processes. Drawing on the experiences of Irish republicans and Basque separatists, I argue that centralized movement structures in which politicos wield influence over armed groups allow for effective coordination between movement wings in peace efforts while providing political leaders with credibility as interlocutors. In the Irish case, centralization enabled Sinn Fein leaders to ensure Provisionaliracommitment to peace and to contain schism within the republican movement throughout the peace process. In the Basque case, movement decentralization created persistent coordination problems between wings during peace efforts, whileeta’s unilateral reneging prevented political allies from establishing credibility as peacemakers. These cases show that while movement leaders untainted by direct association with armed groups may be more politically palatable than those with ties to “terrorists”, tainted leaders may make more credible partners for peace.

Constructing and deconstructing heroes. A Basque case study

José Antonio Aguirre Lekube was, and probably still is, a national hero in the Basque Country. He was appointed the first president (in Basque: lehendakari), when in October 1936 the Basque Statute of Autonomy was passed by the Spanish Parliament and the first autonomous government of Euskadi established. Being a member of the catholic Basque Nationalist Party, Aguirre became the leader of all Basque democrats in the fight against the fascist insurrection, first during the war and then in the long exile until his death in 1960. Especially after his providential escape from Nazi Germany, his leadership got a clearly transcendental and somehow divine connotation: in the painful times of exile and repression, many of his followers perceived Aguirre both as their (human) president, but also as a kind of prophet who knew the way to freedom and democracy. The paper aims at analysing this process of transformation of a leading politician into a national hero. This analysis will be based upon the theoretical assumption that the constructivist approach alone is not able to explain the reasons of this evolution and that it has to be completed by other perspectives of explanation. In the case of Aguirre, his elevation to the status of a hero was not only the product of social engineering. Of similar, or even more importance, were other factors like historical situations of acute crises and popular distress, individual 'predestination' and even random incidents in the personal biography.

Diachronic effects of rhinoglottophilia, symmetries in sound change, and the curious case of Basque

The particular affinity linking glottality and nasality to each other, a connection which is grounded both on articulatory and acoustic bases, seems to be responsible for various phonetic phenomena in different languages. In sound changes associated to what has been termed rhinoglottophilia (Matisoff 1975), the two logically possible diachronic pathways show up: from glottality to secondary nasalization, on the one hand, and from nasality to secondary laryngealization, on the other. The innovations concerned can thus be considered symmetrical, a feature that is rarely found in sound change. This paper first reviews the evidence at our disposal for positing a class of replacive phonetic changes caused by rhinoglottophilia, and then argues for an explanation of the diachronic correspondence n > h in the history of the Basque language based on the (primarily acoustic) effects of this specific connection between glottality (more specifically, aspiration) and nasality.

Is Formality in Knowledge Management Practices Related to the Size of Organizations? The Basque Case

This article's objectives are to analyze the trends related to knowledge management process in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to compare these findings with the conclusions of other research studies designed for SMEs and to examine the level of formality in knowledge management processes according to the size of enterprise. As well, to propose a model suited to the characteristics of the small business. The information is collected from 22 Basque Country SMEs grouped into industrial clusters, through a survey that is conducted to identify the use of practices related to knowledge management. Results show that informal practices figure prominently in the day to day of the SME and that the knowledge management process is not standardized but that is performed by the collaborative work between people, among others. Besides, the size of the SME acts as a factor in regard to the level of formality in knowledge management process. This study helps SME managers understand where the organizational knowledge is found within organizations and, consequently, to not neglect the importance of people in keeping competitiveness high. The article provides new information on how firms located in a particular region of Spain perform in relation to knowledge management, and it could be considered a sort of benchmarking practice on the behavior of SME in managing knowledge, which will be useful for the organization when taking management decisions.

Going beyond motion events typology: The case of Basque as a verb-framed language

AbstractThe concept of motion is present in all the world’s languages. However, the ways in which speakers of different languages codify motion do not seem to be so universal. Languages offer different types of structures to express motion, and speakers pay attention to different elements within the motion event. The goal of this paper is to examine in great detail how motion events are described and expressed in Basque oral and written narratives. This study focuses on three main areas: motion verbs, elaboration of Manner and elaboration of Path. Although Basque can be classified in Talmy’s terms as a verb-framed language, it is argued that it is not a prototypical example of this group with respect to the lexicalisation of Path. Unlike other verb-framed languages, the description of Path in Basque motion events is very frequent and detailed, not only in situations when it adds new information, but also in pleonastic cases. This characteristic seems to be related to Basque’s rich lexical resources for motion and space, as well as to its high tolerance for verb omission. On the basis of these data, the scope of Talmy’s binary typology is questioned. It is suggested that the verb- and satellite-framed language typology should be revised in order to account for these intra-typological differences.

Variations dans l’acquisition du marqueur ergatif en basque par des enfants bilingues basque-français

This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study of seven Basque-French bilingual children and three monolingual Basque-speaking children concerning the acquisition of the morphological marking of the ergative case in Basque. Following the hypotheses put forth to account for the development of early bilingualism, the aim of the study was to establish whether bilingual children follow the same developmental sequences as monolingual children during the acquisition of the ergative case. The research protocol we have developed involves relatively unguided as well as constrained data focusing on the production of the ergative case in these two contexts. The data show significant inter-individual and inter-task differences in the production of the ergative case that contribute to some variation in language acquisition. The findings lead us to question classifications of early bilinguals based on age of acquisition alone.

Bilingual education searching for promising didactic proposals.

Bilingual education searching for promising didactic proposals.

Path dependence in policies supporting smart specialisation strategies

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to apply the path dependence theoretical framework to STI policies that support research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3).Design/methodology/approach– Review of the recent literature on the phases, sources of reinforcement and change mechanisms (layering, conversion, recombination, etc.) present in path-dependent processes, as well as the role played by mental frameworks, political agents and power relations; and its illustration and testing over 30 years of STI policy development in the Basque Country.Findings– How to operationalise the analysis of continuity and change of STI policies supporting RIS3 policies characterised by path dependence processes. Likewise, learnings from the analysis of Basque case regarding the types of challenges that European regions will face as they design their RIS3, according to their degree of maturity in STI policies.Originality/value– It is the first time that the recently developed tools for analysis of path-dependent processes are applied to the development of STI policies supporting RIS3 policies.

From ‘seeing’ to ‘seizing’ opportunity: critical events, turning points and cross-national ethnolinguistic mobilization in the Basque Country

This article examines how social movement actors carry out the transition from ‘seeing’ to ‘seizing’ critical events as empowering structures of political opportunity. Drawing on qualitative data, the discussion looks at how Basque language activists affiliated with the ikastola schooling movement in France engaged with a chain of events linked to the rise of democracy and autonomy in the Spanish Basque Country from 1975 to 1987. The analysis shows how intersubjective perceptions of ‘opportunity’ inspired French Basque activists to orchestrate a strategic turning point through the formation of cross-border ties with parallel actors in Spain. Subsequently, consideration is given to some of the outcomes generated by the formation of these ties for activists in France. In addition to shedding empirical light on the Basque case, the article contributes to micro-cultural studies of macro-political processes in social movement studies by illuminating the discursive and organizational practices through which grassroots actors transform opportune situations into empowering outcomes during times of large-scale societal crisis and transformation.

Nation and democracy building in contemporary Europe:the reproduction of the Basque demos

The article analyzes the material or objectified reproduction of the Basque demos since democracy was established in Spain in 1980. Spain holds within its territory diverse regions and political communities and the Basque case is a highly illustrative example of how the development of regional state institutions is fundamental for the reproduction of distinct democratic demoi not merely in their political but also socio-economic dimension. This paper argues that, in our current European context, political distinctions cannot become effectively objectified and instituted power structures without state institutions being able to uphold a differentiated system of stratification.

Involvement of immigrant parents in their children's schooling in a bilingual educational context: The Basque case (Spain)

The aim of this research was to learn about the involvement of immigrant parents in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Spain) pertaining to the education of their children who study at the Primary Education level. A questionnaire was created based upon the preliminary qualitative research for its subsequent application to a broad population. The results highlight that these families are more involved in the home than at school. These families encourage their children's academic learning, and they instil values. In the bilingual context of this country, the variation amongst families as it pertains to academic support in the home, in terms of the family language and of the school instruction language, is worth noting.