Group identity and urban space: The North American experience

This chapter focuses on geopolitical divisions and the ways in which they have shaped the historic conflict between Basque nationalists and the Spanish state. It traces the development of Basque nationalism which was created at the end of the 19th century- a conservative reaction against the belated centralization of the Spanish state and against the industrialization of the major Basque city of Bilbao. The chapter sketches the ambivalence of the Basques during the Spanish Civil War their subsequent oppression by Franco's highly centralized regime abruptly ended the brief achievement of devolved government for part of the Spanish Basque country in the 1930s. It outlines the resurgence of a more militant and radical nationalism under ETA's leadership in the 1960s and 1970s and its impact on the Spanish state. Here, the Basque cases highlights the main political issues involved in separatism and devolution, and while its particular combinations and outcomes cannot be 'read off' to other conflicts.