Euskadi Ta Askatasuna : A Case Study on Terrorist Dynamics and the Fight to Survive

Using organizational theory and previously untranslated internal documents from the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, this book demonstrates how organizational maintenance led the group to continue fighting even when the costs outweighed the benefits.

This book uses previously untranslated and unpublished transcripts of key internal debates from the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) to unravel the puzzle behind terrorist persistence in the face of certain doom. With its unprecedented view inside a terrorist organization at crucial decision points and discussions of its future, this book highlights the competing considerations that informed ETA''s decision-making process, particularly the benefits of the organization''s survival for members and the loss of this that peace agreements, which often explicitly demand or hold reasonable expectation that the organization is dissolved, would entail. Bennett''s detailed analysis and use of organizational theory reveals that ETA was driven by a desire to survive and expand, and the survival of their organization was ultimately more important than the nationalist movement the organization was formed to pursue.