This thesis demonstrates the powerful relationship between ethnicity, culture, nation and state in the Basque Country and the Former Yugoslavia. In placing Basque and Yugoslav sub-state nationalism in comparative relief this study argues that political state or autonomy seeking behavior on the basis of an ethnically defined or imagined community continues to have powerful contemporary salience. Furthermore when situated within the literature on nationalism, these two cases suggest that the theoretical literature needs to be reworked beyond the positions of Anthony Smith and Ernest Gellner. The endurance of cultural claims to a political state suggests that the connection between ethnicity and the nation is stronger then many contemporary observers have suggested. It is argued that the cultural, political and territorial rights of sub-state nations are likely to remain highly divisive sites of historical, cultural and political contestation. As a force, nationalism is by no means relegated to the past by cosmopolitanism or a ‘post-national’ shift as a number of high profile commentators in the contemporary social sciences have argued. Rather, it remains an active and powerful idea that will continue to shape the sociopolitical landscape of human societies into the twenty-first century as it has the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

This thesis demonstrates the powerful relationship between ethnicity, culture, nation and state in the Basque Country and the Former Yugoslavia. In placing Basque and Yugoslav sub-state nationalism in comparative relief this study argues that political state or autonomy seeking behavior on the basis of an ethnically defined or imagined community continues to have powerful contemporary salience. Furthermore when situated within the literature on nationalism, these two cases suggest that the theoretical literature needs to be reworked beyond the positions of Anthony Smith and Ernest Gellner. The endurance of cultural claims to a political state suggests that the connection between ethnicity and the nation is stronger then many contemporary observers have suggested. It is argued that the cultural, political and territorial rights of sub-state nations are likely to remain highly divisive sites of historical, cultural and political contestation. As a force, nationalism is by no means relegated to the past by cosmopolitanism or a ‘post-national’ shift as a number of high profile commentators in the contemporary social sciences have argued. Rather, it remains an active and powerful idea that will continue to shape the sociopolitical landscape of human societies into the twenty-first century as it has the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

This thesis demonstrates the powerful relationship between ethnicity, culture, nation and state in the Basque Country and the Former Yugoslavia. In placing Basque and Yugoslav sub-state nationalism in comparative relief this study argues that political state or autonomy seeking behavior on the basis of an ethnically defined or imagined community continues to have powerful contemporary salience. Furthermore when situated within the literature on nationalism, these two cases suggest that the theoretical literature needs to be reworked beyond the positions of Anthony Smith and Ernest Gellner. The endurance of cultural claims to a political state suggests that the connection between ethnicity and the nation is stronger then many contemporary observers have suggested. It is argued that the cultural, political and territorial rights of sub-state nations are likely to remain highly divisive sites of historical, cultural and political contestation. As a force, nationalism is by no means relegated to the past by cosmopolitanism or a ‘post-national’ shift as a number of high profile commentators in the contemporary social sciences have argued. Rather, it remains an active and powerful idea that will continue to shape the sociopolitical landscape of human societies into the twenty-first century as it has the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate

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Conventional wisdom suggests that ‘nations without states’ are seeking to preserve cultural and linguistic homogeneity within their homeland by advocating for independence or political autonomy. Accordingly, large-scale immigration has typically been seen as a threat to national minorities because newcomers tend to integrate into the culture of the majority group. In addition, even if immigrants learn the minority’s language, they are unlikely to sympathize with the nationalist movement or vote for nationalist parties. This dissertation seeks to explain why Basque nationalism, despite its historical grounding in racism and exclusivity, developed a group-based multicultural approach in response to foreign immigration. To account for this unexpected outcome, I develop two interrelated causal arguments that integrate the role of ideas and the imperative of nation building for nationalist elites. Nations are forged by a rich legacy of memories and nationalist history requires both an act of collective remembering and collective amnesia. The ideas that stem from the memories of repression constrained the choices of Basque nationalists, preventing the rise of ideas of racial purity and exclusion in favour of multiculturalism and openness. A second argument that I advance is that changing contexts are motivating nationalist elites to find new policy areas with which to distinguish the values of the majority and minority nation. The emergence of a stricter immigration framework in Spain and a backlash against multiculturalism in Europe provided Basque nationalists with an opportunity to link open citizenship and multiculturalism to the distinctiveness of the Basque nation. I apply the arguments developed through an in-depth study of the Basque case to the nationalist movements in Scotland, Quebec, and Flanders and conclude that diversity is an effective, but risky, new value that minority nationalists are employing to further their case for independence.

Conventional wisdom suggests that ‘nations without states’ are seeking to preserve cultural and linguistic homogeneity within their homeland by advocating for independence or political autonomy. Accordingly, large-scale immigration has typically been seen as a threat to national minorities because newcomers tend to integrate into the culture of the majority group. In addition, even if immigrants learn the minority’s language, they are unlikely to sympathize with the nationalist movement or vote for nationalist parties. This dissertation seeks to explain why Basque nationalism, despite its historical grounding in racism and exclusivity, developed a group-based multicultural approach in response to foreign immigration. To account for this unexpected outcome, I develop two interrelated causal arguments that integrate the role of ideas and the imperative of nation building for nationalist elites. Nations are forged by a rich legacy of memories and nationalist history requires both an act of collective remembering and collective amnesia. The ideas that stem from the memories of repression constrained the choices of Basque nationalists, preventing the rise of ideas of racial purity and exclusion in favour of multiculturalism and openness. A second argument that I advance is that changing contexts are motivating nationalist elites to find new policy areas with which to distinguish the values of the majority and minority nation. The emergence of a stricter immigration framework in Spain and a backlash against multiculturalism in Europe provided Basque nationalists with an opportunity to link open citizenship and multiculturalism to the distinctiveness of the Basque nation. I apply the arguments developed through an in-depth study of the Basque case to the nationalist movements in Scotland, Quebec, and Flanders and conclude that diversity is an effective, but risky, new value that minority nationalists are employing to further their case for independence.

Unexplored areas in EU integration literature regarding regional representational channels give impetus to the research. Novelty lies in its concentration on reciprocal regional governmental and EU relations to test the hypothesis that Regions with Legislative Competencies (RLCs) interact in EU policy and decision-making to influence it through both formal and informal means. The work focuses on RLCs because they are able to harness a large degree of power and influence vis-à-vis the nation state, which increases their visibility in EU policy. The Basque Country is the case study due to its high degree of autonomy and resources that maximises its ability to influence EU policy. The period of analysis starts from the Maastricht Treaty negotiations (1991-1992) and concludes with the Basque parliamentary elections (2009). Existing literature explores the regional tier emphasising its involvement in EU decision and policymaking, primarily concerning structural and cohesion funds. Other scholarly contributions identify central governments as the regulators of substate regional participation at EU-level policymaking. The thesis argues that multi-level governance (MLG) offers new insights into examining EU integration and the phenomenon of regional ‘circumvention’ of central governments through informal representational avenues, including interregional organisations and diverse lobbying efforts. A MLG approach is useful because it considers varying levels of influence and jurisdiction of substate, state, and supranational entities within the EU. The thesis argues that the effective representational capability of RLCs depends on formal and informal institutional contacts, and it explores the most effective forms of representation for Euskadi and the policy areas where its activism has an impact. Fieldwork consists primarily of informal semi-structured interviews with EU representatives, the central state, Basque institutions, and interregional organisations. They are essential concerns for the methodology because they form a range of informal and formal representation channels, which have not been thoroughly surveyed in the literature.

This study analyses the involvement of young Basque millennials with EITB, the Basque public media. Specifically, it focuses on knowing what these young people think of these media and revealing what their experience of engagement with television programming is. EITB was founded in 1982, years after the end of Franco’s dictatorship which, based on an ideology of extreme Spanish nationalism, persecuted any Basque cultural expression for decades. From its inception, this public broadcaster has sought to promote Basque culture and the Basque language and, after several years of development and growth, it is now facing new challenges arising from the digital era. In this context, the new forms of consumption, habits and the massive offer of audiovisual material force the public broadcaster to make an effort to reach their audiences and to make them loyal. In this sense, I will analyse which the paths that EITB uses to contact young millennials are and where its role as an agent for the social development of Basque culture lies.

The subject of research of this presented diploma thesis is the evaluation of the factors that influence the genesis of nationalist aspirations and separatist tendencies on two scale levels: the level of Spanish Autonomous Communities, and between comarcas in the Basque Country and Catalonia. Emphasis is placed primarily on the differentiation between the influence of economic aspirations and ethno-national identity. On the theoretical level, the thesis discusses approaches to nationalism, its typology, resources and activation, as well as the development of social organization and the asymmetrical division of powers in Spain. For the purposes of analysis, two indicators of intensity of expressed nationalism are used - constitutional preference and voting behavior - and then each are tested in relation to socio-economic characteristics, ethno-cultural manifestations, or relevant demographic characteristics. The thesis also evaluates the system of set fiscal redistribution between regions and central government.

This dissertation analyzes symbolic and political discourse in the works of three controversial intellectuals who participate in the contemporary debate on nationalisms in Spain. Basque poet and essayist Jon Juaristi (b. 1951), after brief involvement in ETA during the late 1960s and early 1970s, evolved into one of Spain's most outspoken critics of Basque nationalism, a position that led to death threats from ETA and eventually his permanent abandonment of the region. After founding his theater company Els Joglars in 1962, Catalan playwright Albert Boadella (b. 1943) used it as a vehicle to fight the Francoist dictatorship and promote a Catalan nationalist agenda. However, he eventually reversed his position on the issue of Catalan and Spanish nationalisms and became a political enemy to many in his home region. Finally, Basque filmmaker Julio Medem (b. 1958) caused outrage throughout much of Spain in 2003 with a documentary film exploring the clash between Spanish and Basque identities. In my examination of Boadella's and Juaristi's autobiographies and Medem's documentary I explore the ways each author portrays himself as subverting, transgressing, or transcending the sub-state nationalisms that are virtually hegemonic in their regions, and I reveal how each author's treatment of gender, especially his representations of masculinity, either undermines or substantiates the purportedly "non-nationalist" position he stakes. I argue that Juaristi's and Boadella's restrictive, traditionalist gender constructions reveal conservative Spanish nationalist discourses which prevent them from surpassing the rigid power structures that nourish the opposition between Spain's center and periphery, while Medem's cinematic work does present the possibility of breaking free from the boundaries of the conflict of national identities through the transcendence of patriarchal nationalist symbolism - both Basque and Spanish.