ABSTRACT
Why does terrorism fail? Why are terrorist groups unsuccessful in achieving their long-term goals? Consider the tragic history of the Basque organization ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna: Basque Homeland and Freedom), which laid down its arms on October 20, 2011. Having failed to achieve its strategic goal of creating an independent socialist state, the Basque terrorist group unilaterally decided to end its 43-year violent campaign. The causes that account for the decline of ETA are both endogenous and exogenous and are not unlike other cases of terrorism. This chapter provides an overview of ETA’s secessionist campaign between 1968 and 2011 and argues that two explanatory variables—the efficiency of counterterrorist policy and the loss of social support—account for its demise.
