Introduction

Euskadi 'ta Askatasuna (ETA)'s cessation of operations has inspired Basque civil society to engage in new, much more lively and open debates, revisiting the meaning of Basque sovereignty and nationhood. As different from Eastern Europe, there was no post-authoritarian civil war in the Basque country. When ETA announced its permanent cessation of operations, the strategy of violence had in fact been debated within the Basque radical movement for decades. From an anthropological perspective, sovereignty can be understood as imagined in similar ways as the 'imagined communities' that make up the 'people' of sovereignty demands. Notions of a Basque polity and a distinct Basque identity have existed for centuries, as evidenced in historical work on the 'foral' rights and privileges codified in mediaeval times. As the Statute of Autonomy of Navarre was finally approved, Basque identity politics was overshadowed by major developments on the European political scene.