The Culture of Emergency in Italy and Spain: State Antiterrorism
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0964663920975119 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The Culture of Emergency
in Italy and Spain: State
Antiterrorism
Gemma Ubasart-Gonz´
alez
University of Girona, Spain
Abstract
After nearly six decades, on May 2, 2018, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) announced its
dissolution. This announcement brought an end to the last ripples of the wave of political
violence in Europe that began in the sixties, which coincided with a cycle of protests
during the sixties and seventies. In response to serious political conflict and its drift
toward armed violence, some liberal-democratic states established an antiterrorism
framework involving legislative and practical transformations at every level of the
criminal justice system. From a critical criminology perspective, the concept of a ‘culture
of emergency’ was developed in the field of il garantismo in order to analyze the phe-
nomenon. The present article explores the construction of this exceptionalism in two
cases: that of Italy (‘revolutionary wave’) and of Spain (ETA). While attempting to identify
a common pattern of emergency, this study also identifies the specificities of each
conflict.
Keywords
Antiterrorism, critical criminology, culture of emergency, Italy, political violence, Spain
Introduction
After nearly six decades, on May 2, 2018 Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) announced
its dissolution. This announcement brought an end to the last ripples of the wave of
European political violence that began in the sixties, which coincided with a cycle of
protests during the sixties and seventies (Tarrow, 1990, 1998). In response to the serious
Corresponding author:
Gemma Ubasart-Gonz´
alez, University of Girona, Faculty of Law, Campus de Montilivi, 17003 Girona, Spain.
Email: gemma.ubasart@udg.edu
Social & Legal Studies
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0964663920975119
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2021, Vol. 30(6) 913–936
political conflicts and radicalization of the social struggles of the time (with some
resulting in armed violence) several liberal democracies in Europe developed a complex
antiterrorism response in the last third of the 20th century: a veritable ‘culture of emer-
gency’ (Baratta and Silbernagl, 1983; Bergalli, 1988) that comprised different elements
(Muro, 2010). One of the characteristics of this response was resorting to illiberal
measures (Big´o et al., 2006), which was apparent both in the transformation of legisla-
tion and in the introduction of new practices at various levels of the criminal justice
system: the police, the courts, and th e prison system. Together, all of thes e factors
resulted in changes in public opinion that justified thes e actions in the name of the
greater good.
In Western Europe, some countries stand out in particular as having developed an
emergency culture during the period in question, in which exceptionalism was intro-
duced as an antiterrorism logic. These were the years of the autunno caldo (Hot
Autumn), the autonomist movement, and the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades) in Italy and
the radicalism of the German far left with the Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction)
as the most extreme expressions. Additionally, armed organizations such as Euskadi Ta
Askatasuna (ETA) and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) were a direct challenge to their
respective states in their nationalist / independentist disputes. However, although these
conflicts emerged around roughly the same time and place, the resources marshalled in
each wave of protest and the bases from which the disputes arose differ: the first two
were largely centered on radicalized workers and students in a plural and heterogeneous
political body composed of activist communities in a loosely connected network (left-
wing extremism: So¨nmez, 2019); the latter two were national in nature in a more uniform
and homogeneous political body, with territorially cohesive communities (ethnic radic-
alism: Waldmann, 1997).
This study adopts a comparative approach by examining two cases
1
: the way in which
the state reacted to conflictive challenges in Italy and in Spain. These two instances were
chosen as they are essentially disputes of distinct natures (the former revolving around
left-wing extremism, and the second, ethno-territorial radicalism) that produced similar
state responses. At the same time, they are both Mediterranean countries, with analogous
historical, social, and institutional particularities, a fact which aids in controlling for
other possible intervening variables.
2
The main hypothesis of this analysis notes that,
from the seventies in Italy and the eighties in Spain, emergency modes – with parallels
both in patterns and in substance – were developed to respond to serious conflicts that led
to armed struggle. The secondary hypothesis points out that the type of conflict condi-
tions the way in which the emergency mode impacts the development of the conflict, as
well as the state’s ability to end the clash through repressive measures.
This study begins with a theoretical and methodological approach to the problem,
based on the concept of the ‘culture of emergency’ developed in the area of il garan-
tismo, which emerged from studies in critical criminology,
3
as well as making use of
analytical tools devised by the literature of social movements and their impacts. Sec-
ondly, as they are the focus of the analysis, the conflictive contexts in Italy and Spain are
outlined. Thirdly, the way in which the state’s response was formulated is traced in both
cases, which clearly reveals how the culture of emergency developed. Finally, there are
some conclusions emphasizing the dialectical relationship between the culture of
914 Social & Legal Studies 30(6)
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