Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country

Autores
Gaztañaga, Julieta
Año de publicación
2026
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Can we speak of experiencing political pleasure in participating and enacting public policy? In this article I examine the enactment of an innovative framework for local public policy-making in the Basque Country. Aimed at producing alternative social development, ‘Sovereign Hernani’ is based upon public-cooperative-community collaboration of the local government, a citizens’ assembly, and organised social sectors such as energy, care, food, telecommunications, commerce, currency, biodiversity, labour, and housing. Drawing from my ethnography with the promoters and government officials who foster this project, the article suggests it is possible to complement the anthropological study of sovereignty and policy-making with an ethnographic exploration of political pleasure. I conclude that political pleasure is experienced both collectively and in a personal manner, and that in certain sociopolitical settings it may offer some answers regarding what a contemporary Left could offer to reimagine public well-being.
Fil: Gaztañaga, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Departamento de Ciencias Antropológicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas; Argentina
Materia
BASQUE COUNTRY
LOCAL POLITICS
POLICY MAKING
PREFIGURATIVE POLITICS
SOVEREIGNTY
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/290360
Acceder
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network_name_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
spelling Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque CountryGaztañaga, JulietaBASQUE COUNTRYLOCAL POLITICSPOLICY MAKINGPREFIGURATIVE POLITICSSOVEREIGNTYhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.9https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5Can we speak of experiencing political pleasure in participating and enacting public policy? In this article I examine the enactment of an innovative framework for local public policy-making in the Basque Country. Aimed at producing alternative social development, ‘Sovereign Hernani’ is based upon public-cooperative-community collaboration of the local government, a citizens’ assembly, and organised social sectors such as energy, care, food, telecommunications, commerce, currency, biodiversity, labour, and housing. Drawing from my ethnography with the promoters and government officials who foster this project, the article suggests it is possible to complement the anthropological study of sovereignty and policy-making with an ethnographic exploration of political pleasure. I conclude that political pleasure is experienced both collectively and in a personal manner, and that in certain sociopolitical settings it may offer some answers regarding what a contemporary Left could offer to reimagine public well-being.Fil: Gaztañaga, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Departamento de Ciencias Antropológicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas; ArgentinaBerghahn Books2026-05info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/290360Gaztañaga, Julieta; Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country; Berghahn Books; The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology; 44; 1; 5-2026; 127-1460305-76742047-7716CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/cja/44/1/cja440110.xmlinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3167/cja.2026.440110info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2026-08-25T15:12:36Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/290360instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982026-08-25 15:12:36.712CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
title Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
spellingShingle Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
Gaztañaga, Julieta
BASQUE COUNTRY
LOCAL POLITICS
POLICY MAKING
PREFIGURATIVE POLITICS
SOVEREIGNTY
title_short Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
title_full Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
title_fullStr Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
title_full_unstemmed Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
title_sort Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Gaztañaga, Julieta
author Gaztañaga, Julieta
author_facet Gaztañaga, Julieta
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv BASQUE COUNTRY
LOCAL POLITICS
POLICY MAKING
PREFIGURATIVE POLITICS
SOVEREIGNTY
topic BASQUE COUNTRY
LOCAL POLITICS
POLICY MAKING
PREFIGURATIVE POLITICS
SOVEREIGNTY
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.9
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Can we speak of experiencing political pleasure in participating and enacting public policy? In this article I examine the enactment of an innovative framework for local public policy-making in the Basque Country. Aimed at producing alternative social development, ‘Sovereign Hernani’ is based upon public-cooperative-community collaboration of the local government, a citizens’ assembly, and organised social sectors such as energy, care, food, telecommunications, commerce, currency, biodiversity, labour, and housing. Drawing from my ethnography with the promoters and government officials who foster this project, the article suggests it is possible to complement the anthropological study of sovereignty and policy-making with an ethnographic exploration of political pleasure. I conclude that political pleasure is experienced both collectively and in a personal manner, and that in certain sociopolitical settings it may offer some answers regarding what a contemporary Left could offer to reimagine public well-being.
Fil: Gaztañaga, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Departamento de Ciencias Antropológicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas; Argentina
description Can we speak of experiencing political pleasure in participating and enacting public policy? In this article I examine the enactment of an innovative framework for local public policy-making in the Basque Country. Aimed at producing alternative social development, ‘Sovereign Hernani’ is based upon public-cooperative-community collaboration of the local government, a citizens’ assembly, and organised social sectors such as energy, care, food, telecommunications, commerce, currency, biodiversity, labour, and housing. Drawing from my ethnography with the promoters and government officials who foster this project, the article suggests it is possible to complement the anthropological study of sovereignty and policy-making with an ethnographic exploration of political pleasure. I conclude that political pleasure is experienced both collectively and in a personal manner, and that in certain sociopolitical settings it may offer some answers regarding what a contemporary Left could offer to reimagine public well-being.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026-05
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/290360
Gaztañaga, Julieta; Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country; Berghahn Books; The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology; 44; 1; 5-2026; 127-146
0305-7674
2047-7716
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/290360
identifier_str_mv Gaztañaga, Julieta; Political Pleasure in Policy-Making: ‘Sovereign Hernani’ in the Basque Country; Berghahn Books; The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology; 44; 1; 5-2026; 127-146
0305-7674
2047-7716
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/cja/44/1/cja440110.xml
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3167/cja.2026.440110
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Berghahn Books
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Berghahn Books
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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score 13.265058

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