EBOOK Endgame for ETA: Elusive Peace in the Basque Country
Opis
Elusive Peace in the Basque Country
The violent Basque separatist group ETA took shape in Franco&'s Spain, yet claimed the majority of its victims under democracy. For most Spaniards it became an aberration, a criminal and terrorist band whose persistence defied explanation. Others, mainly Basques (but only some Basques) understood ETA as the violent expression of a political conflict that remained the unfinished business of Spain&'s transition to democracy. Such differences hindered efforts to &'defeat&' ETA&'s terrorism on the one hand and &'resolve the Basque conflict&' on the other for more than three decades. Endgame for ETA offers a compelling account of the long path to ETA&'s declaration of a definitive end to its armed activity in October 2011. Its political surrogates remain as part of a resurgence of regional nationalism - in the Basque Country as in Catalonia - that is but one element of multiple crises confronting Spain. The Basque case has been cited as an ex- ample of the perils of &'talking to terrorists&'. Drawing on extensive field research, Teresa Whitfield argues that while negotiations did not prosper, a form of &'virtual peacemaking&' was an essential complement to robust police action and social condemnation. Together they helped to bring ETA&'s violence to an end and return its grievances to the channels of normal politics.
The violent Basque separatist group ETA took shape in Franco&'s Spain, yet claimed the majority of its victims under democracy. For most Spaniards it became an aberration, a criminal and terrorist band whose persistence defied explanation. Others, mainly Basques (but only some Basques) understood ETA as the violent expression of a political conflict that remained the unfinished business of Spain&'s transition to democracy. Such differences hindered efforts to &'defeat&' ETA&'s terrorism on the one hand and &'resolve the Basque conflict&' on the other for more than three decades. Endgame for ETA offers a compelling account of the long path to ETA&'s declaration of a definitive end to its armed activity in October 2011. Its political surrogates remain as part of a resurgence of regional nationalism - in the Basque Country as in Catalonia - that is but one element of multiple crises confronting Spain. The Basque case has been cited as an ex- ample of the perils of &'talking to terrorists&'. Drawing on extensive field research, Teresa Whitfield argues that while negotiations did not prosper, a form of &'virtual peacemaking&' was an essential complement to robust police action and social condemnation. Together they helped to bring ETA&'s violence to an end and return its grievances to the channels of normal politics.