Peacebuilding Beyond Terrorism? Revisiting the Narratives of the Basque Conflict

Since the fall of the Franco’s regime in Spain, the Spanish governments have been dealing with the low-intensity conflict in their country, namely the Euskadi Ta Askatusuna (ETA) attacks. This article analyzes the Basque conflict within the framework of the conflict analysis and resolution perspective. First, it highlights the conflict issues among the Basque conflict parties. Second, it clarifies the conflict issues by focusing on kidnapping and assassination done by the ETA during 1990s. The special case of Miguel Angel Blanco who was a local Basque councilman is a case study. In order to shed light on the Blanco case, it is necessary to focus the conflict resolution dynamics of the Basque conflict. Third, the paper aims to examine the Blanco case in terms of conflict issue identification, conflict issue clarification, and conflict cultural analysis perspectives. The issue identification perspective focuses on identity, face, and instrumental issues of the Basque conflict. The issue clarification perspective concentrates on two conflicting parties’ perceptions and positions in the conflict. The cultural analysis perspective mainly attempts to analyze the cross-cultural differences between ETA and the Spanish government. Based on the analysis of Miguel Angel Blanco, this study concludes that it is necessary to reframe, re-identify and re-clarify the Basque conflict within the framework of conflict and peace studies.

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On identity issues as the starting point for normative conflict analysis

Deusto Journal of Human Rights ◽

10.18543/djhr-3-2018pp77-97 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 77

Author(s):

Ángel Rodríguez Aurrecoechea

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Conflict Analysis ◽

Starting Point ◽

Current Context ◽

Insight Into ◽

Basque Conflict

In the current context of globalization, it has become apparent that identity issues are a key aspect leading to conflict. However, I argue that the extent to which identity issues are an underlying cause of conflict is more nuanced and more encompassing than generally acknowledged. Analysing conflict from an identity issues framework can help us shift our focus from the endpoint of conflict to the normative nature of the conflict itself. I will then use this framework of analysis to set out an initiative for the Basque conflict in order to illustrate the efficiency of this approach. I also hope to provide insight into how institutions working on identity issues related to multiculturalism can realize their potential and have a broader impact in civil society.Received: 23 April 2018 Accepted: 13 October 2018 Published online: 11 December 2018

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Conflict, Memory, and Positioning: The Multivoiced Context of the Basque Conflict

SpringerBriefs in Psychology - Remembering as a Cultural Process ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-32641-8_5 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 49-59

Author(s):

Brady Wagoner ◽

Ignacio Brescó ◽

Sarah H. Awad

Keyword(s):

Basque Conflict

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From militant voices to militant irony: Examining identity, memory and conflict in the Basque country

Europe’s Journal of Psychology ◽

10.5964/ejop.v13i3.1324 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 548-558

Author(s):

Ignacio Brescó de Luna

Keyword(s):

Collective Memory ◽

Basque Country ◽

The Other ◽

History Teaching ◽

Political Actors ◽

The Past ◽

Other Hand ◽

Plural Societies ◽

The One ◽

Basque Conflict

Collective memory and identity so often go hand in hand with conflicts. Alongside the use of violence, conflicts unfold against the backdrop of different narratives about the past through which groups constantly remind themselves of the supposed origin of the conflict, and consequently, what position individuals are expected to take as members of the group. Narratives – as symbolic tools for interpreting the past and the present, as well as happenings that have yet to occur – simultaneously underpin, and are underpinned by, the position held by each warring faction. Drawing on previous works, this paper compares different versions of the 2016 truce period in the Basque Country stemming from three subjects identified, to varying degrees, with the main political actors involved in that conflict. These three cases have been selected from a total of 16 participants who were asked to define the Basque conflict and to provide an account of the 2006 truce period by using 23 documents taken from different Spanish newspapers. On the one hand, the results show two narratives reproducing the versions of two of the main political actors involved in the conflict, and on the other hand, a narrative characterized by a more personal and ironic appropriation of those versions. Results are discussed vis-à-vis the use of irony in history teaching in increasingly plural societies.

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