ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes how the affirmation of and demand for sovereignty has been constructed in the Basque country. It does so in a dynamic and evolutionary form, considering the social context and collective consciousness from which the conception of sovereignty has been set in motion. The chapter investigates the political, cultural, economic and institutional factors, and their corresponding mobilizations, that have caused the assertion of and demand for sovereignty to advance or retreat. It explores how Basque actors are reorienting their discussions on the nature of sovereignty to encompass new recognitions of the complexity of multiple identities, and reflections on the changing implications of nationhood and citizenship under transnational impacts, especially within the European Union (EU). The chapter presents an opportunity to propose an analytical model which would take into account the confluence of multiple factors and contexts that combine to influence the emergence, consolidation and territorial spread of a determinate assertion of national sovereignty.
