Political Violence or Political Engagement? The dilemma of the Basque Independentist Movement

This paper explores the relation between the two different logics that the radical Basque nationalism has used in its struggle for the creation of a Basque state in confrontation with the Spanish state and society. While in the early period only the logic of armed struggle was used with the creation of the armed organization ETA in 1959 and the impossibility of the political participation under General Franco’s regime, since the death of Franco the political way was also available. This study focuses on the impact of the engagement on the nationalist movement and describes the armed-political struggle that has characterised the Basque nationalist movement since the late 1970s. A particular attention will be placed on the current situation of ETA linking the demise of ETA with the hypotheses described the empirical study of Jones and Libicki (2008). Thus, this paper would contribute to the debate about the strategies that led to the end of terrorism.