Beyond Self-placement: Why Nationalism is a Better Predictor of Electoral Behaviour in the Basque Country

Abstract

Most analysts agree that in the Basque Country, the nationalism cleavage
is more important for political party competition than the left-right divide.
Recent studies, however, suggest that self-placement on the left-right
scale is a better predictor of electoral behaviour than self-placement on a
nationalism scale. We have attempted to solve this seeming paradox by
showing that self-placement along the left-right axis is related to
preferences regarding many different areas, and is therefore not
necessarily coincident with the classic understanding of “left” and “right”.
Once the preferences regarding certain issues were operationalised, the
Basque nationalism-Spanish nationalism divide was found to be a more
important factor for electoral decisions than the left-right divide.