Towards a Basque State. Territory and Socioeconomics
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TOWARDS A BASQUE STATE territory and socioeconomics Ipar Hegoa Foundation / Basque Summer UniversityUniversityUniversity 2 Author: Ipar Hegoa Foundation With the assistance of the: Basque Summer University ISBN: 978-84-8438-423-9 Legal deposit: BI-1289-2012 Original title: Euskal Estatuari bidea zabaltzen: lurraldea eta sozioekonomia. Cover design: Ipar Hegoa Foundation Translator: Alan R. King Distributed by: Ipar Hegoa Fundazioa Rekalde Zumarkalea, 62 BILBO. Phone: 944706915 E-mail: [email protected] Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea (Basque Summer University). Erribera 14, 1. D, BILBO. Phone: 946790546 Fax: 944793039 E-mail: [email protected] / www.ueu.org By the present licence you may copy, distribute and display the content or produce derivative works provided the following conditions are met: – You must cite the author of the original content. – If you modify the content, or create a derivative work and distribute it, you must do so under the same conditions as in the present licence. – You may not use this work for any commercial purpose. 3 ContentsContentsContents FOREWORD Ipar Hegoa Fundazioa ......................................................................................................................................... 5 The Basque State and territory INTRODUCTION Iñaki Antiguedad Auzmendi ............................................................................................................................ 8 1. THE TERRITORIAL DIMENSION OF A STATE´S STRUCTURE Oskar Arantzabal Iraeta …………………………………….............................................................................. 13 2. TERRITORY AND ECONOMICS. TERRITORY AS A POLITICAL CONCEPT Jabier Erize De La Rica ..................................................................................................................................... 27 3. TERRITORY, FUNCFUNCTIONTION AND THE COMMUNITY AND/OR STATE Josu Larrinaga Arza ……..................................................................................................................................... 41 4. HOW HOULD EUSKAL HERRIA RESPOND TO THE PRESENT LACK OF POPOPOLITICALPOLITICAL POWER OVER TERRITORIAL ORGANISATION TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRATIC SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? Alberto Frias Gil ……............................................................................................................................................ 52 4 The Basque State and Socioeconomics INTRODUCTION Txomin Lorca Alcalá ........................................................................................................................................... 65 1. EUSKAL HERRIA: A STANSTANDARDDARD NATION IN THE SOUTHWEST OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY Xabier Isasi Balantzategi and Asier Otxoa de Retana Simon ...................................................... 72 2. SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT ECONOMICS FOR NATION BUILDING Nekane Jurado Pérez ….................................................................................................................................... 90 3. TOWARDS A BASQUE STATE: WEAKNESSES, STRENGTHS AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS FOR THE BASQUE ECONOMIC FABRICFABRICFABRIC Antón Borja Alvarez ......................................................................................................................................... 120 4. THE BASQUE ECONOMY AT THE CROSSROADS Ekai Center ........................................................................................................................................................... 140 5. THE MONDRAGON COOPERATIVE GROUP AND THE PROSPECT OF A BASQUE STATE Antxon Mendizabal Etxabe .......................................................................................................................... 156 6. THE NEED FOR A BASQUE STATE IN A LABOUR RELATIONS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION PERSPECTIVE Aitor Bengoetxea Alkorta............................................................................................................................... 170 7. BUILDING A (BASQUE) NATION FROM THE WORLD OF WORK Francisco Letamendia Belunce .................................................................................................................. 188 8. CLASS INTERESTS IN THE BUILDING OF A BASQUE STATE Iñaki Gil de San Vicente Larrañaga .......................................................................................................... 200 5 FOREWORD Ipar Hegoa Fundazioa One of the goals of the IPAR HEGOA Foundation is to carry out studies and analyses of political and social issues of interest for the Basque Country and to encourage discussion of such subjects. Therefore, at the present time when there is much debate about the viability of Euskal Herria, IPAR HEGOA Fundazioa wishes to contribute to the discussion by offering these documents. Some will argue that Euskal Herria is a tiny country, that fragmentation makes no sense in the present era of globalisation, that what is needed now is for all of us to work together and achieve a mutual understanding, that demands for independence lead to discrimination among the members of a community, and so on, and so forth. Many factors and countless arguments are cited as reasons today for not creating new states; some of them are coherent arguments that make a certain amount of sense. And yet, be that as it may, thousands upon thousands of Basque citizens are still insisting that they want a state of their own. What of their arguments? Are these not also coherent, equally important arguments? Whether we like it or not, the fact is that in the world today the state continues to be the chief expression of comprehensive political decision-making power. Therefore, in the contemporary Basque Country, in the current political state of affairs, we believe it is both interesting and necessary to undertake a collective exercise of thinking through the benefits, options, risks and dangers that the construction of a Basque state in Europe would entail, on many levels, including the political, institutional, territorial, socio-economic, linguistic, cultural, and in terms of identity. The IPAR HEGOA Foundation proposes to take a long look at all the circumstances and ask how feasible a Basque state is. Thus we have brought together on these pages the opinions of numerous academics and researchers who are familiar with this range of subjects. We are well aware that there are many other specialists, besides these, who have often made extremely interesting contributions to the field. IPAR HEGOA Fundazioa has not set itself the task of bringing together contributions from every single such expert, or to present in equal measure current opinions in every discipline, or to represent every single region of our country to the same degree. Instead, priority has been given to achieving a coherent picture subscribed to by a respectable number of experts, even at the risk of leaving some geographical areas, universities or perspectives out of the picture. But this does not mean we have striven to produce a single, monolithic viewpoint: that was not our purpose. Each author was free to give their own opinion, provided only that they focus on the overall idea of the necessity and viability of a Basque state; beyond that, it is recognised that there is room for a variety of points of view. After all, the aim of the present study was not to create a constitution for the Basque state, nor to lay down rules for what a Basque state ought to be like. Ours is a less ambitious objective, yet quite a crucial one all the same. The question we wish to answer is this: Is a Basque state viable or not? Would it or would it not be worth the effort to create a Basque state? Would Basques be willing to embark on such a project? In the event that these questions find an answer and if that answer is in the affirmative, then, and only then, would it be time for us to turn to the next set of questions, questions about the direction and purpose of such a Basque state. The IPAR HEGOA Foundation believes that the present study addresses this matter of great interest, and that it is able to play a useful part in bringing Euskal Herria into focus in the present international situation, by gathering together a range of views now current in a variety of disciplines; it may also help to establish the absolute and relative place of Euskal Herria within the domain of present-day states. We believe the interesting theoretical contributions 6 set down on these pages will contribute to endowing the demand for a Basque state with substance, while also proving useful in order to lay a sound material and ideological foundation such as is necessary in order to give form to that endeavour. IPAR HEGOA holds that this is the best option for everybody who lives and works in Euskal Herria and defends the premise that at this time the Basque Country possesses the basic potentialities needed to build a state that can take its place among the states of Europe. Thus the IPAR HEGOA Fundazioa offers, in Towards a BBasqueasque StateState, a qualified contribution concerning the need for and feasibility of a newly created Basque state. The study consists of three parts covering different subject areas: NationNationNation-Nation---buildingbuilding and Institutions, Citizenship and Culture and Territory and SSocioeconomicsocioeconomicsocioeconomics.... This book is about the third of these areas. In the section on TERRITORYTERRITORY, Iñaki Antiguedad begins to reflect on building a Basque state by discussing the justifications for studying the subject