Orthodox, criticals and the missing context: Basque civil society's reaction(s) to terrorism

The emergence of the school of Critical Terrorism Studies has been attributed to the lack of contextualisation of research on terrorism, primarily, the virtual absence of the state and its role in instigating, funding or promoting terrorism. While this is a much needed development, this article employs the Basque case in order to demonstrate that the dualism of analysis (terrorists versus the state) is not critical enough. What it overlooks is the role that civil societies can play inside that dichotomy by rejecting or upholding violent methods for the satisfaction of political demands.