An alternative to State constrictions: a basque label on the Glocal sphere

The French Basque country bears two main paradoxes: the first is that as “historical and cultural” territory it has no specific administrative existence in France; the second one is that a dual political culture mixes spontaneous democratic mobilisations and old-fashioned representatives’ delegation. That’s why traditional local acceptance of the elective political system is very strong whereas alternative and participative democratic movements persistently spread out (Biltzar des maires, “Pays basque 2010”, “Pays basque 2020” …) to implement “decentralized” dynamics which are, most of the time, absorbed by a State control process. Nowadays, e-technology and innovative management appear as an additional opportunity to promote participatory democracy). It allows all the supporters of glocal processes over multidimensional limits to defend some collective projects involved in this cultural area (linked with the rest of Spanish Basque Country). In such a specific political and social context, the aNTIC Pays Basque, close to an local administration (CABAB) but independent in its management, supports new form of localized governance thanks to NICT. Indeed, this associative structure contributes to “glocal” dynamics if we regard global and local specificities dual by nature but common in their modality. That puts the emphasis on the fact that local forces do not only manage to attenuate the impact of global processes through technical instruments: it can help to promote alternative managements to State edifice; it can allow the identification of an unrecognized territory beside historical nation-state circumscriptions (in this case historically and culturally well identified). For example, in 2007, aNTIC Pays Basque drives Pays basque numérique Label (“A collective and participative Basque Label to promote Basque e-territory over the e-World”), through an effective e-democratic participation involving Basque citizens, local French representatives and officials in the “policy” process (including, potentially, persons from outside of the real French Basque territory). This way, it shows that public actions can be conducted by a local mobilization involving members of the civil society and the administration through governance processes and participative efforts, thanks to NICT support, inside and outside of the nation-state borders.