ABSTRACT
The Basque Country is a collectivity that throughout its history has maintained it own distinct personality, traditions and institutions. During the last two centuries its relationship to the Spanish state has been conflictual, and since the beginning of the liberal state in the nineteenth century there has been a constant struggle between state policies of integration and Basque resistance. This resistance has been led by various political forces, including ‘foralists’, autonomists and nationalists, but since the end of the nineteenth century it has been dominated by nationalism. It is therefore necessary to begin by noting some of the fundamental features of Basque nationalism, especially as compared with Spain’s other important minority nationalism, the Catalan. This will enable us to understand the important differences in their strategies up to the present (Conversi 1997).
