ABSTRACT
The majority of peace processes around the world need to include all actors and parts involved in the conflict. The Basque peace process (BPP) is, however, remarkable as it provides a glimpse of a peace process in which one of the key actors, the central state, in particular the incumbent government, has been largely absent, at least in a formal capacity. This chapter argues that the BPP lasted from the transition to democracy and the approval of the statute of autonomy to the 2011 definitive ceasefire, the subsequent disarmament in April 2017 and ETA's final dissoution in April-May 2018. During this time, there were two significant processes: the disbanding of the main of the two branches of ETA in 1981 and the final abandonment of violence by ETA in 2011, culminating in its dissolution in 2018 and its disapperance as a political 'trademark'.
