Between logics of deliberation and appropriateness : the discourse and practices of the Catholic Church over the Basque issue

Abstract

This article addresses the way the Catholic Church deliberates and/or contributes to public deliberation over the Basque ethnoterritorial conflict. The article proceeds in three sections. Section 1 positions the piece within theoretical debate about institutionalist approaches to the deliberative ideas and practices conveyed by the Church. Section 2 sums up the main results of the empirical research undertaken, making a distinction between the contribution of the Church to public debate over conflict-resolution and the way it has deliberated over the ethnoterritorial issue within its own institutional apparatus. We observe the primacy of logics of appropriateness on the part of the Church, thus reducing deliberative practices to an active but marginalized status. The concluding section discusses the empirical and theoretical implications of the case study.