Not Just Identity: Key Factors Involved in the Basque Pro-independence Movement

Abstract

The so-called procés (process of independence of Catalonia) has triggered abundant research seeking to analyse what factors explain the Catalan pro-independence movement. In contrast, there is a gap in the literature with regard to the Basque case, which this paper seeks to fill.

The prevailing analyses to date have typically considered identity/ ethnicity as the key variables to account for the pro-independence movement in the Basque Country. However, this study, seeks to go beyond this approach, to analyse the influence of other more instrumental factors. Based on the 1995-2006 period covered in this paper, the main conclusion is that the identity factor is key to the understanding of the pro-independence movement, but that it is far from being the only one. Our analysis has also showed that both political and economic conjunctural factors are important.