Details
Counter-terror by proxy
The Spanish State's illicit war with ETA
129,99 € |
|
Verlag: | Manchester University Press |
Format: | EPUB |
Veröffentl.: | 10.08.2021 |
ISBN/EAN: | 9781526158819 |
Sprache: | englisch |
Anzahl Seiten: | 224 |
DRM-geschütztes eBook, Sie benötigen z.B. Adobe Digital Editions und eine Adobe ID zum Lesen.
Beschreibungen
<p>Between 1983 and 1987, mercenaries adopting the pseudonym GAL (<i>Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación</i>, Antiterrorist Liberation Group) paid by the Spanish treasury and relying upon national intelligence support were at war with the Basque militant group ETA (<i>Euskadi (e)Ta Askatasuna</i>, Basque Country and Freedom). Over four years, their campaign of extrajudicial assassinations spanned the French-Spanish border. Nearly thirty people were killed in a campaign comprised of torture, kidnapping, bombing and the assassination of suspected ETA activists and Basque refugees.<br><br>This establishment of unofficial counterterrorist squads by a Spanish Government was a blatant detour from legality. It was also a rare case in Europe where no less than fourteen high-ranking Spanish police officers and senior government officials, including the Minister of Interior himself, were eventually arrested and condemned for counter-terrorism wrongdoings and illiberal practices. Thirty years later, this campaign of intimidation, coercion and targeted killings continues to grip Spain. The GAL affair was not only a serious example of a major departure from accepted liberal democratic constitutional principles of law and order, but also a brutal campaign that postponed by decades the possibility of a political solution for the Basque conflict.<br><br><i>Counter-terror by proxy</i> uncovers why and how a democratic government in a liberal society turned to a ‘dirty war’ and went down the route of illegal and extrajudicial killing actions. It offers a fuller examination of the long-term implications of the use of unorthodox counter-terrorist strategies in a liberal democracy.</p>
<i>Counter-terror by proxy</i> exposes the motives, form and rationale of extrajudicial military force that was violently deployed by the Spanish government against Basque separatists during the 1980s. It offers a comprehensive understanding of a dark side of recent Spanish history and analyses the wider consequences of the resort to illegal counterterrorist practices in liberal regimes.
<p>Foreword by Elspeth Guild<br>Preface and acknowledgements<br>List of abbreviations<br>Maps<br><br>Introduction<br>1 Arch-enemy: Euskadi Ta Askatasuna <br>2 Continuity: Francoist legacy and transition to democracy<br>3 Controversy: extradition, political offence exception and the French sanctuary<br>4 Monstrous mimicry: actions and actors of the Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups<br>5 Sacrifice: code of silence, political scandal and strategies of denial<br>6 Symbolic violence: diplomatic embarrassment and European democratic identity<br>Conclusion: state-terrorism, deceptive organisation and proxy<br><br>Index</p>
Emmanuel-Pierre Guittet is Research Associate at
<i>Centre d’Etudes sur les Conflits, Liberté et Sécurité</i> (Paris, France) and at University of Cambridge’s
<i>Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement</i> (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
<i>Centre d’Etudes sur les Conflits, Liberté et Sécurité</i> (Paris, France) and at University of Cambridge’s
<i>Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement</i> (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
<p>Between 1983 and 1987, mercenaries adopting the pseudonym GAL (<i>Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación</i>, Antiterrorist Liberation Group) paid by the Spanish treasury and relying upon national intelligence support were at war with the Basque militant group ETA (<i>Euskadi (e)Ta Askatasuna</i>, Basque Country and Freedom). Over four years, their campaign of extrajudicial assassinations spanned the French-Spanish border. Nearly thirty people were killed in a campaign comprised of torture, kidnapping, bombing and the assassination of suspected ETA activists and Basque refugees. <br><br>This establishment of unofficial counterterrorist squads by a Spanish Government was a blatant detour from legality. It was also a rare case in Europe where no less than fourteen high-ranking Spanish police officers and senior government officials, including the Minister of Interior himself, were eventually arrested and condemned for counter-terrorism wrongdoings and illiberal practices. Thirty years later, this campaign of intimidation, coercion and targeted killings continues to grip Spain. The GAL affair was not only a serious example of a major departure from accepted liberal democratic constitutional principles of law and order, but also a brutal campaign that postponed by decades the possibility of a political solution for the Basque conflict.<br><br><i>Counter-terror by proxy</i> uncovers why and how a democratic government in a liberal society turned to a ‘dirty war’ and went down the route of illegal and extrajudicial killing actions. It offers a fuller examination of the long-term implications of the use of unorthodox counter-terrorist strategies in a liberal democracy.</p>
Diese Produkte könnten Sie auch interessieren:
Los problemas globales de la humanidad en el tránsito hacia la multipolaridad
von: Mario Antonio Padilla Torres, María Teresita Ortiz Gómez
7,99 €