From Franco to Freedom : The Roots of the Transition to Democracy in Spain, 1962-1982

"This book brings together recent research by a group of specialists in history and sociology to provide a new reading of the late Franco dictatorship, especially in relation to its political culture. The authors focus on the election of local, trade union and national representatives, the work of the first Spanish sociologists, the struggle over administrative reform, the role of the media and the intellectuals, as well as the evolution of the dictatorship's political class and its response to the regime's decline. Not only are the politics of the late dictatorship scrutinised, but also the mechanisms that were deployed to control the fast-changing society of the 1960s and 1970s. In examining the late Franco period, the contributors do not believe that it contained the seeds of Spain's later democratization, but maintain that certain sectorial regime initiatives - electoral and political changes, an evolving discourse and an interest in political processes outside Spain - made many Spaniards aware of the dictatorship's contradictions and limitations, thereby encouraging its subsequent political and social evolution. This transformation is compared with the latter stages of the parallel dictatorship in Portugal. The great majority of Spaniards felt that the embrace of democratic freedoms and integration into the European Community was the only way forward during the Transition. But the shift from dictatorship to democracy from the 1960s onwards in Spain needs to be understood in relation to the multitude of political and social changes that took place - despite the opposition of Franco and the 'bunker' mentality of the regime. These changes manifested in a complex interaction between internal and external factors, which eventually resulted in the transformation of Spanish society itself"-- Provided by publisher This book brings together recent research by a group of specialists in history and sociology to provide a new reading of the late Franco dictatorship, especially in relation to its political culture. The authors focus on the election of local, trade union and national representatives, the work of the first Spanish sociologists, the struggle over administrative reform, the role of the media and the intellectuals, as well as the evolution of the dictatorships political class and its response to the regimes decline. Not only are the politics of the late dictatorship scrutinised, but also the mechanisms that were deployed to control the fast-changing society of the 1960s and 1970s. In examining the late Franco period, the contributors do not believe that it contained the seeds of Spains later democratisation, but maintain that certain sectorial regime initiatives -- electoral and political changes, an evolving discourse and an interest in political processes outside Spain -- made many Spaniards aware of the dictatorships contradictions and limitations, thereby encouraging its subsequent political and social evolution. This transformation is compared with the latter stages of the parallel dictatorship in Portugal. The great majority of Spaniards felt that the embrace of democratic freedoms and integration into the European Community was the only way forward during the Transition. But the shift from dictatorship to democracy from the 1960s onwards in Spain needs to be understood in relation to the multitude of political and social changes that took place -- despite the opposition of Franco and the bunker mentality of the regime. These changes manifested in a complex interaction between internal and external factors, which eventually resulted in the transformation of Spanish society itself. Cover 1 Sussex Studies in Spanish History 3 Title Page 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Series Editor’s Preface 9 1 Introduction: From Franco to Freedom 12 2 The Sociologists and the Analysis of Social (and Political) Change in Spain between 1962 and 1982 28 3 The Blue Factor: Falangist Political Culture under the Franco Regime and the Transition to Democracy, 1962–1977 52 4 Voting under Franco: The Elections of the Family Procuradores to the Cortes and the Limits to the Opening Up of Francoism 81 5 Public Opinion and Political Culture in a Post-Fascist Dictatorship (1957–77) 112 6 Marcelismo (and Late Francoism): Unsuccessful Authoritarian Modernisations 148 7 Paving the Way for the Transition? The Administrative Reform of the late 1950s 186 8 The Dismantling of Spanish ‘Fascism’: Socio-Political Attitudes during the Late Franco Dictatorship (1962–76) 219 The Editor and Contributors 242 Index 244 Back Cover 263