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The Basque power‐sharing experience: from a destructive to a constructive conflict?
Author(s) -
MANSVELT BECK JAN
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8129.2008.00327.x
Subject(s) - power sharing , constructive , power (physics) , hybridity , conflict resolution , authoritarianism , pluralism (philosophy) , sociology , ethnic conflict , settlement (finance) , compromise , political economy , political science , democracy , ethnic group , law , epistemology , computer science , politics , philosophy , physics , process (computing) , quantum mechanics , world wide web , anthropology , payment , operating system
. Neither the devolution of powers to the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain nor more than a decade of power‐sharing within this region has led to a peaceful settlement of the Basque conflict. Combining Kriesberg's approach to conflict resolution and consociational theory, past power‐sharing experiences are analysed. The lack of overarching loyalties, traditions of compromise, comprehensive participation and the continuation of violence have frustrated power‐sharing. After the 2006 ceasefire, the conditions for giving the conflict a constructive turn have not fundamentally changed. The potential for alternative forms of power‐sharing as a way out of the Basque conflict, combined or not with innovative territorial arrangements cannot be employed because of multi‐scale polarisation. De‐escalation as a prerequisite for new types of power‐sharing arrangements requires relearning democratic pluralism and a recognition of ethnic hybridity in this politically and geographically fragmented society.