The Politics Of Contemporary Spain

by Balfour,Sebastian

• ISBN13: 9780415356787
• ISBN10: 0415356784
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2005-01-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

While Spain is now a well-established democracy closely integrated into the European Union, it has suffered from a number of severe internal problems such as corruption, discord between state and regional nationalism, and separatist terrorism. The Politicsof Contemporary Spaincharts the trajectory of Spanish politics from the transition to democracy through to the present day, including the aftermath of the Madrid bombings of March 2004 and the elections that followed three days later. It offers new insights on the main political parties and the political system, on the monarchy, corruption, terrorism, regional and conservative nationalism, and on Spain's policies in the Mediterranean and the EU. It challenges many existing assumptions about politics in Spain, reaching beyond systems and practices to look at identities, political cultures and mentalities. It brings to bear on the analysis the latest empirical data and theoretical perspectives. Providing a detailed politicalanalysis in an historical context, this book will be of vital importance to students and researchers of Spanish studies and politics.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
List of contributors	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction: Spain since the transition to democracy: an overview	1	(5)
Sebastian Balfour
From consensus to competition: the changing nature of democracy in the Spanish transition	6	(21)
Jonathan Hopkin
The monarchy of Juan Carlos: from dictator's dreams to democratic realities	27	(12)
Paul Preston
Corruption, democracy and governance in contemporary Spain	39	(22)
Paul M. Heywood
Using terror against terrorists: the Spanish experience	61	(20)
Paddy Woodworth
Terrorism and nationalist conflict: the weakness of democracy in the Basque Country	81	(25)
Jose Manuel Mata
Convergencia i Unio, Catalonia and the new Catalanism	106	(15)
Andrew Dowling
From National-Catholic nostalgia to constitutional patriotism: conservative Spanish nationalism since the early 1990s	121	(25)
Xose-Manoel Nunez Seixas
The reinvention of Spanish conservatism: the Popular Party since 1989	146	(23)
Sebastian Balfour
The Socialist Party in government and in opposition	169	(29)
Monica Mendez-Lago
Between ambition and insecurity: Spanish politics and the Mediterranean	198	(17)
Richard Gillespie
Spain in the new European Union: in search of a new role and identity	215	(20)
Mary Farrell
Index	235