Ethnicity and democracy relation: Spain's democratization process and Basque case

This thesis analyses the ability of democratization to accommodate violent or non- ethnic conflicts, which became prevalent in the late twentieth century. Fort his purpose, firstly, the dynamics nurturing ethnic disputes were identified by studying primordial, modern and ethno-symbolist approaches of nationalism theories, and then, accommodation strategies of democracies -Ethnic Democracy, Liberal (classic and multicultural) Democracy, Consociational Democracy- has been examined. Additionally, it has been thought that a case study could serve for overcoming the probable limitations of theories in practice. In this context, the Spanish-Basque case can be regarded as remarkable example with Spain?s transition to democracy since Franco?s death in 1975 and Basque nationalism emerged roughly a century ago.Finally, following analytical framework about the dynamics of ethnic conflicts and democratization theories, the Spanish democratic applications and its influences on the Basque case were relatively assessed and concluded, that democratization can neutralize some dynamics of ethnic disputes and meet some ethnic demands, but not all of them. In any case, democratization is a necessity for managing ethnic conflicts, because democratic applications compatible with ?Zeitgeist? are sources of legitimation in resolution of ethnic disputes.Key Words:1. Nationalism2. Ethnicity3. Ethnic Conflict4. Democratization5. Basque Conflict