Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T01:26:22.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Basque Violence: a Reappraisal of Culturalist Explanations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

Jan Mansvelt Beck  and
Jan D. Markusse
Jan Mansvelt Beck
Affiliation:
Senior researchers at the Amsterdam Institute of Metropolitan and Development Studies, University of Amsterdam. [J.Mansveltbeck@uva.nl]
Jan D. Markusse
Affiliation:
Senior researchers at the Amsterdam Institute of Metropolitan and Development Studies, University of Amsterdam. [J.Markusse@uva.nl]
Get access

Abstract

David Laitin has explained the occurrence of Basque and Georgian nationalist violence as the outcome of language revival in a bilingual setting and a specific locale. Based on game theory, he has suggested that violence, as a rational nationalist strategy, will increasingly be used if specific thresholds levels in language choice for education are met. A critical reappraisal of his approach is made in which the conceptual and methodological limits to the empirical testing are highlighted. Subsequently, an extensive dataset of Basque municipalities in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country is used to statistically verify Laitin’s model by multivariate analysis. In some areas of the Basque Country Laitin’s model seems to fit while in others not. With the help of both quantitative and qualitative data, alternative explanations for Basque ethnic violence are explored.

Résumé

David Laitin a voulu voir dans la violence au pays basque le produit du renouveau d’une langue régionale dans un contexte local bilingue. S’appuyant sur la théorie des jeux, il a considéré que la violence, en tant que stratégie nationaliste rationnelle, augmentait quand les systèmes scolaires outrepassent des seuils critiques en matière linguistique. L’article propose un réexamen critique, à la fois méthodologique et empirique du modèle. Une base de donnée importante a été constituée pour les municipalités des provinces basques d’Espagne. Certains résultats d’analyse multivariée vérifient le modèle de Laitin, d’autres nullement. Des éléments d’explication alternatifs sont avancés.

Zusammenfassung

Für David Laitin erklärt sich die Gewaltbewegung der Basken durch ein Aufleben der baskischen Sprache in einem zweisprachigen und noch dazu örtlich begrenzten Umfeld. Aufbauend auf der Spieletheorie schliesst er, dass Gewalt, als rationale, nationalistische Strategie, besonders dann zunimmt, wenn der Bildungsbereich gewisse Grenzen im sprachlichen Bereich überschreitet. Der vorliegende Aufsatz setzt sich kritisch mit dieser These auseinander, sowohl methodologisch als auch empirisch. Es wurde eine ausführliche, kommunale Datenbank des spanischen Baskenlandes erstellt, um Laitin’s Modell zu überprüfen. In manchen Gebieten stimmen die Ergebnisse überein in anderen jedoch nicht. Der Aufsatz gibt alternative Erklärungen für die baskische Gewaltwelle.

Type
Research Articles
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , April 2008 , pp. 91 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arrien, G., 1993. Bizkaiko ikastolak, 1957-1972, Beren hasieran eta antolaketa/Las ikastolas de Bizkaia, 1957-1972. Sus orígenes y organización (bilingual), (Donostia, Eusko Ikaskuntza).Google Scholar
Azurmendi, M. J., Bachoc, E. and Zabaleta, F., 2001. Reversing Language Shift: the Case of Basque, in Fishman, Joshua A., ed., Can Threatened Languages Be Saved? (Clevedon, Multilingual Matters, 116, pp. 234-259).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, R. and Laitin, D. D., 1998. “Ethnic and Nationalist Violence”, Annual review of sociology, 24 (1), pp. 423-452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casquete, J., 2003. “From Imagination to Visualization: Protest Rituals in the Basque Country”, Veröffentlichungsreihe der Arbeitsgruppe politische Öffentlichkeit (Berlin, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, September, http://skylla.wz-berlin.de/pdf/2003/iv03-401.pdf).Google Scholar
Cetinyan, R., 2002. “Ethnic Bargaining in the Shadow of Third-Party Intervention”, International Organization, 56 (3), pp. 645-677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conversi, D., 1990. “Language or Race? The choice of core values in the development of Catalan and Basque nationalism”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 13 (1), pp. 50-70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conversi, D., 1997. The Basques, the Catalans and Spain, Alternative Routes to Nationalist Mobilisation (London, Hurst and Company).Google Scholar
De la Calle Robles, L., 2007. “Fighting for Local Control: Street Violence in the Basque Country”, International Studies Quarterly, 51, pp. 431-455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domínguez, Iribarren F., 1998. ETA: Estrategia Organizativa y Actuaciones, 1978-1992 (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco).Google Scholar
Euskaltzaindiaren laguntzaz (transl. SIADECO [Sociedad de Investigación Aplicada para el Desarrollo Comunitario]) in collab. with Euskaltzandia (Royal Academy of the Basque Language), 1979. Conflicto lingüístico en Euskadi, BilbaoEuskaltzaindia (Royal Academy of the Basque Language).Google Scholar
Eustat (Basque Statistics Office), 2006. Downloaded file SerieIM2005_c.xls, including municipal time series on Basque-medium educationhttp://www.eustat.es, accessed 15 January 2006.Google Scholar
Ezkerra, I., 2002, ETA pro nobis. El pecado original de la Iglesia vasca (Barcelona, Planeta).Google Scholar
Fearon, J. D. and Laitin, D. D., 2000. “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity”, International Organization, 54 (4), pp. 845-877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, N., 2002. Basque in Education in the Basque Autonomous Community (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Eusko jaularitza [Basque Government]).Google Scholar
Gurr, T. R., 1993. Minorities at Risk, a Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts (Washington D.C., United States Institute of Peace Press).Google Scholar
Gurruchaga, Abad A., 1985, El código nacionalista vasco durante el franquismo (Barcelona, Anthropos).Google Scholar
Gurruchaga, Abad A., 1996. Transformación del nacionalismo vasco (San Sebastián, Aramburu).Google Scholar
Gurruchaga, Abad A., Pérez-Agote, A. and Unceta, A., 1984. Estructura y procesos sociales en el País Vasco (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco).Google Scholar
Heiberg, M., 1985. “Inside the Moral Community: Politics in a Basque Village”, in Douglass, W. A., ed., Basque Politics: a Case Study in Ethnic Nationalism (University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nevada, pp. 285-308).Google Scholar
Heiberg, M, 1989. The Making of the Basque Nation (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hislope, R., 1998. “Ethnic conflict and the ‘Generosity Moment’”, Journal of Democracy, 9 (1), pp. 140-153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juaristi, J., 2003. “Breve historia de una saga sabinista. Cuando la estupidez precede al crimen”, Papeles de Ermua, 4, pp. 184-185, accessed 31 March 2008 onhttp://89.149.167.91/html/cuadernos/c4.pdf.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D., [1995] 1999. “National revivals and violence”, Archives européennes de sociologie, 26 (1), pp. 3-43.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D., 1999. “National revivals and violence”, in Bowen, John and Petersen, Roger, eds, Critical Comparisons in Politics and Culture (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 21-60).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llera Ramo, F. J., 1984. Postfranquismo y fuerzas políticas en Euskadi. Sociología electoral del País Vasco (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco).Google Scholar
Llera Ramo, F. J., 1994. Los Vascos y la Política, (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco).Google Scholar
López-Goñi, I., 2003. “Ikastola in the twentieth century: an alternative for schooling in the Basque Country”, History of Education, 32 (6), pp. 661-676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loveman, M., 1998. “High-Risk Collective Action: Defending Human Rights in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina”, American Journal of Sociology, 104, pp. 477-525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansvelt Beck, J., 1999. “The Continuity of Basque Political Violence, a Geographical Perspective on the Legitimisation of Violence”, Geojournal, 48, pp. 109-121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansvelt Beck, J., 2005. Territory and Terror, Conflicting Nationalism in the BasqueCountry (Routledge, London/New York).Google Scholar
Mateo, Miren, 2005. “Language policy and planning of the status of Basque, I: The Basque Autonomous Community (BAC)”, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 174, pp. 9-24.Google Scholar
Mees, L., 2003. Nationalism, Violence and Democracy. The Basque Clash of Identities (New York, Palgrave Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mees, L., 2004. “Politics, economy, or culture? The rise and development of Basque nationalism in the light of social movement theory”, Theory and society, vol. 33 (3), pp. 311-332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, J., 2000. “The Banality of ‘Ethnic War’: Yugoslavia and Rwanda”, Paper for 2000 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, 46 p.: http://psweb.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/jmueller/apsa2000.pdf.Google Scholar
Muro, D., 2008. Ethnicity and Violence, The Case of Radical Basque Nationalism (Oxon/New York, Routledge).Google Scholar
SIADECO, 1977. Estudio socio-lingüístico del euskara, Tomo VII, Las ikastolas en el País Vasco (Bilbao, Euskalztzaindia [in mimeo]).Google Scholar
Snyder, J., 1994. From Voting to Violence, Democratization and Nationalist Conflict (New York, W.W. Norton and Company).Google Scholar
Spinner-Halev, J. and Theiss-Morse, E., 2003. “National Identity and Self-Esteem”, Perspectives on politics, 1 (3), pp. 515-532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raento, P., 1997, “Political Mobilisation and Place-specificity: Radical Nationalist Street Campaigning in the Spanish Basque Country”, Space and Polity, vol. 1 (2), pp. 191-204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raento, P., 2002. “Integration and Division in the Basque Borderland”, in Kaplan, D. H. and Häkli, J., eds, Boundaries and Place, European Borderlands in Geographical Context (Lanham MD, Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 93-115).Google Scholar
Tejerina Montaña, B., 1992. Nacionalismo y lengua. Los procesos de cambio lingüístico en el País Vasco (Madrid, Siglo XXI).Google Scholar
Tejerina Montaña, B., 1996. “Language and Basque Nationalism: Collective Identity, Social Conflict and Institutionalisation”, in Mar-Molinero, Claire and Smit, Angel, eds, Nationalism and the Nation in the Iberian Peninsula, Competing and Conflicting Identities (Oxford, Berg, pp. 221-236).Google Scholar
Van den Broek, H., 2004. “The Legitimation of Street Violence in the Political Discourse of Radical Basque Nationalists”, Terrorism and Political Violence, 16 (4), pp. 714-736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar