LESS DIVIDED AFTER ETA? THE EVOLUTION OF IDEOLOGICAL CLEAVAGES IN THE BASQUE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD, 2007–2017

Abstract

The Basque Country has traditionally been considered a strongly polarized political community. The influence of the center-periphery cleavage and the shadow of political violence have conditioned many aspects of social life, including relations among civic organizations. Previous literature suggests that differences in organizations’ national identities and/or position towards ETA’s (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom in the Basque language) violence have often acted as cleavages fragmenting collective action fields. This research examines whether this picture changed substantially after ETA’s abandonment of violence in 2011 by taking the environmental field as a case study and looking at the evolution of patterns of interorganizational collaboration between 2007 and 2017. The results of statistical network analyses show that both Basque nationalism and ideological positions towards ETA’s use of violence had a strong influence on organizations’ decisions to collaborate with one another up to 2011, whereas during the more recent postconflict period, collaboration seems to occur in a more pluralistic and less ideologically driven fashion.