|Izenburuak berak laburbiltzen du gaiaren edukia; alegia, harremanetan ipintzea euskal nazionalismoa eta nazio lurraldea. Edo beste modu batera esanda: nola ulertzen duen euskal nazionalismoak naziotzat hartzen duen lurraldea. Eta hori dena Geografia politikoaren barruan, horixe baita lana egiteko harturiko esparru akademikoa.
Horretarako, lehenengo, banan-banan aztertzen dira elementu guztiak: nazionalismoa, lurraldea eta Euskal Herria.
* Nazionalismoari dagokionez, mugimendu politiko gisa aurkezteko ahalegina egiten da, horrek bere jokaeraren hainbat ergibide ematen digu eta. Horrek esan nahi du mugimendu horretako eragile politikoek, egoeraren eta testuinguruaren arabera, lehentasuna eman ahal dietela faktore politikoei, eta ez nazio ikuspegiari.
* Lurraldeari dagokionez, eragina ipintzen da nazionalismo baten barruan lurraldea xedatzeak duen garrantzian.
* Eta Euskal Herriari begira, azkenik, zazpi herrialdez osaturiko nazioa aztertzen da, horrek duen inplikazioa kontuan hartuta. Lanak nazioaren maila orokor hori hartzen du aztergaitzat, eta ez da sartzen, ondorioz, nazio barruko xehetasunetara; hala nola, herrialdeak aztertzea, eta abar.
Banan-banan aztertu ondoren, konbinatu egiten dira elementuak:
* Nazionalismoa eta lurraldea batzean, nabarmentzekoa da nazio-estatuak lurraldeaz egiten duen erabilera, nazioaren mugei izaera sakratu antzera emanez. Arrazoi horrexegatik, nazionalismo biren arteko talka gertatzen denean, oso zaila da konponbidea, biek norberarenatzat jotzen baitute lurralde hori, eta gatazka gertatu ohi da askotan.
* Euskal nazionalismoa aztertzean, oso kontuan hartzekoa da herrialdeka eduki zuen garapen desberdina, gaur ere eragina baitu, bai hedapen mailan eta bai nazionalismo motan. Era horretara, hiru gune bereiz daitezke Euskal Herrian euskal nazionalismoaren indarraren arabera: erdigunea, Bizkaia eta Gipuzkoaren inguruan; erdi aldea, eremu zabala erdigunetik urrundu ahala; periferia, erdigunetik urrunen geratzen dena, eta euskal nazionalismoaren mezua zailen heltzen dena.
Lurraldea eta euskal nazionalismoa batzean, azkenik, bi maila bereizten dira. Alde batetik, lurraldeak euskal nazionalismoan eduki duen eragina. Puntu honetan, nabarmendu behar da maila teorikoan arraza edo hizkuntza hobetsi arren, praktikan euskal nazionalismoak lurralde irizpidea jarraitu duela. Horrek esan nahi du, euskal herritartzat bere lurraldean bizi zen oro jo izan duela, beste herritarrei kidetasun hori ukatu gabe, teorian arraza edo hizkuntzarekin egin zezakeen bezala. Beste aldetik, euskal nazionalismoak hartzen duen lurralde aukera aztertzen da. Bestelako aukerak egon daitezkeen arren, euskal nazionalismoaren helburu estrategikoa independentzia da, eta horrekin batera, osagarria batzuentzat, edo ia ordezkoa besteentzat, Herrien Europa agertzen da. Aukera horien gainean hainbat gogoeta egiten da.Basque nationalism and Basque territory
The subject of this dissertation is summarised in the title itself: it is an exploration of the relationship between Basque nationalism and national territory. To put it another way: of how Basque nationalism views the territory which it considers constitutes the nation. The academic framework for this study is that of political geography.
The first step is to review each of the elements involved by themselves: nationalism, territory, the Basque Country.
* Regarding nationalism, an essay presents this as a political movement, since this approach helps to explain many of its aspects. This means that the political agents of this movement may attach greater priority to political factors than to national aspects depending on the situation and the context.
* Regarding territory, the importance of territorial definition within a nationalist movement is shown to be a central issue.
* Lastly, regarding the Basque Country, the nation is considered as consisting of seven provinces, bearing in mind the implications this has. The dissertation takes this as its object of study and refrains from entering into divisions within the nation such as a consideration on a province-by-province basis.
After considering these elements individually, they are brought together:
* Bringing together nationalism and territory, we must consider the use made by the nation-state of the concept of territory, attributing sacred value to the nation's borders. For that reason, when two nationalisms clash the issue is difficult to resolve when both claim the same territory as their own, and a conflict often ensues.
* When discussing Basque nationalism it is important to bear in mind its contrasting degrees of development in different regions, the effects of which are still visible today in terms of both the spread and type of nationalism. In this respect three areas of the Basque Country may be differentiated according to the strength of Basque nationalism in each: the centre, in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa; the middle area, a broad zone moving away from the centre; and the periphery, which is most distant from the centre and the area which Basque nationalism has the greatest difficulty reaching.
* Bringing together territory and Basque nationalism, finally, two levels are distinguished. On the one hand there is the impact of territory on Basque nationalism. On this point it has to be said that while theoretically giving priority to race or language, in practice Basque nationalism obeys a territorial criterion. This means that it has tended to consider all the people living in its territory as Basque citizens, without denying citizenship to people from other countries as might be expected in a theory founded on race or language. On the other hand, the study examines the territory chosen by Basque nationalism. Although there might have been other options, the strategic objective of Basque nationalism is independence, and together with that, as an additional point for some and almost a substitute for others, the concept of a Europe of Peoples emerges. These options are made the subject of numerous considerations.
