State construction and democratization: The Basque union majority in the face of systemic exclusion

Abstract

This chapter seeks to analyze the tension between strategies for de-democratization – the privatization of democracy – and democratization in operation in the contemporary state. We begin by conceptualizing the state, adopting a strategic-relational approach that allows us to overcome the structure-agency division and to understand the state as a complex relationship. We situate this theoretical reflection within the study of neoliberalism as a form of governmentality, offering an approach that is not limited to the field of economics. Neoliberalism is driven by states, through states, and develops within states themselves. Therefore, on a more concrete level, we analyze the most direct consequence of neoliberalism: the privatization of democracy. While this model does strategically reinforce private institutions and actors, it is also necessary to study the resistance and alternative proposals for democratization that arise in response. We analyze the case of Basque majority unionism to draw attention to democratization strategies employed by subjects formerly included in the “power bloc” and subsequently expelled in the post-Fordist era. We conclude that one strategy for democratization is based on a re-territorialization of power through public institutionalization, including not only the subjects and classes more recently excluded from power through neoliberal governmentality, but others that were not central in other forms of governmentality either. We call this strategy “communitarian statism.”