Basque Country - Атлас этнических региональных автономий - Сеть по исследованию идентичности

Description of the autonomy

One of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, located in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. It was created in 1978 in the process of adoption of a new Constitution that marked the end of the dictatorship of General F. Franco and the beginning of the democratization process in the country. The Basque country borders on another autonomous community of Spain - Navarra, and is associated with it by a common titular ethnic group (Basques) and a common history.

Thanks to the historically established privileges (fueros), the Basque Country, unlike most other regions, enjoys full tax autonomy, which is based on the Concierto Económico agreement. The provinces of the region themselves collect taxes and then remit the fixed share of the taxes to the central government.

The titular ethnic group is Basques, which make up about 60% of the region's population, while the other 40% are the Spaniards. Language is the key distinguishing marker for a titular ethnic group. The Basque language, unlike other European languages, does not belong to any of the language families and is the so-called pseudo-isolated language. In addition, the Basques differ from the Spaniards in their character and customs. The education system of the Basque Country provides several models of language teaching. One can choose schools where Basque is the language of instruction and Castilian is taught as a subject or the opposite model (with Castilian as a language of education and Basque as a subject).

The ethnopolitical conflict continued in the region for many years. The reason to it was the desire of the radical part of the Basque community for independence from Spain. Until 2011, the conflict was closely linked to the violent actions of the terrorist organization ETA ("The Basque Country and Freedom"). In 2011, ETA renounced violence, and after that, the "Basque problem" underwent major changes but was not resolved. From time to time non-violent manifestations of conflict (discussions about a possible referendum, demonstrations, etc.) flash out in the region, but they have little weight on the political agenda.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer