Terrorist Threats in the Basque Country: its Impact on the Psychosocial Sphere of Victims

Authors

  • Javier Martín-Peña University of Zaragoza
  • Ana Varela-Rey University of Barcelona

Keywords:

Terrorism, political violence, terrorist threats, psychosocial functioning, psychosocial consequences

Abstract

The ceasefire of armed activities announced by ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) in 2011 has fostered a debate about the violence and the victims of the terrorist organization. During those years, the violence perpetrated by ETA was characterized by bomb attacks and assassinations. In addition to this blatant violent behavior, a low-intensity violence was also taking place in the Basque Country, consisting of terrorist threats against their targets. There is, however, a lack of evidence-based research into this phenomenon. This investigation studies the impact of terrorist threats on the psychosocial functioning of people threatened by ETA in the Basque Country. Seventy-six people targeted by ETA completed self-reported survey. Terrorist threats and their derived psychosocial consequences were assessed by this way. The findings point out a relationship between terrorist threats and their psychosocial effects, which greatly affected the immediate environment of the targets too. The implications of these findings are discussed.

El cese de la actividad armada anunciado por ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna – Euskadi y Libertad) en 2011 ha promovido un debate sobre la violencia y las víctimas de la organización terrorista. Durante esos años, la violencia perpetrada por ETA se caracterizó por ataques con bombas y asesinatos. Además de este comportamiento claramente violento, en el País Vasco también se estaba produciendo una violencia de baja intensidad, consistente en amenazas terroristas contra sus objetivos. Sin embargo, no hay una investigación basada en la evidencia sobre este fenómeno. Esta investigación estudia el impacto de las amenazas terroristas en el funcionamiento psicosocial de las personas amenazadas por ETA en el País Vasco. Setenta y seis personas amenazadas por ETA completaron una encuesta de autoevaluación. Se evaluaron de esta forma las amenazas terroristas y sus consecuencias psicosociales derivadas. Los resultados indicaron una relación entre las amenazas terroristas y sus efectos psicosociales, que también afectó, en gran medida, al entorno inmediato de los amenazados. Se debaten las implicaciones de estos descubrimientos.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2472882

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Author Biographies

Javier Martín-Peña, University of Zaragoza

PhD in Social Psychology from University of Barcelona. He is Lecturer Professor at University of Zaragoza. His research interests principally include violence, psychological violence, harassment, terrorism, victims, and psychosocial effects, among others. . University of Zaragoza. Faculty of Social Sciences and Work. c/ Violante de Hungria, 23. 50009 Zaragoza. Spain. jmape@unizar.es

Ana Varela-Rey, University of Barcelona

PhD candidate in Social Psychology at the University of Barcelona. Her PhD thesis deals with legitimation of violence, taking the ETA group as the main case study. Her research interests include terrorism; political violence; discourse of violence legitimation and social influence. University of Barcelona. Faculty of Psychology. Pg. Vall d'Hebrón, 171. 08035 Barcelona. Spain. ana.varela@ub.edu

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Published

26-06-2013

How to Cite

Martín-Peña, J. and Varela-Rey, A. (2013) “Terrorist Threats in the Basque Country: its Impact on the Psychosocial Sphere of Victims”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 4(3), pp. 507–524. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/290 (Accessed: 19 April 2024).