The Post-Franco Party Political System in Spain: EU30569
2010-2011
Dr. Paul Kennedy
The aim of this unit is to examine the nature of Spanish politics in the postauthoritarian period; analyse the success of the transition from dictatorship
to democracy; evaluate the modernisation of Spain under the PSOE
government with particular reference to the role played by European
integration; and assess more recent political developments under the
Partido Popular and the PSOE under Rodríguez Zapatero.
On completion of this unit, students will be able to:
 Understand the nature of the transition to democracy;
 Critically evaluate the role played by political parties and other key
actors;
 Apply theoretical frameworks to political developments in Spain.
The core content of this unit includes: the transition from dictatorship to
democracy; socio-economic modernisation under the PSOE and PP; the role
of European integration; and Spain’s system of regional autonomy.
Lecture Programme:
1. La Transición de la Dictadura a la Democracia I: Sorteo de los grupos
de seminario.
2. Transición II: La crisis de la UCD
3. El PSOE y la Modernización de España (I)
4. El PSOE y la Modernización de España (II)
5. La Corrupción, y el declive del PSOE
6. El auge y caída del PP. El PSOE bajo Rodríguez Zapatero.
7. ¿Hacia un Estado Federal? El Estado de las Autonomías.
8. Seminars One and Two.
9. Seminars Three and Four.
10. Seminars Five and Six.
Assessment:
The assessment for this unit consists of an essay of 3,500 words (67%) to be
handed in on Monday 11 May and coursework consisting of one group
seminar presentation and individual write-up (33%) which is to be handed in
the week after the group presentation.
Seminars:
Since the seminar contributes one third of the marks for this unit, it is
essential that you follow these guidelines:
 The mark that you receive includes both the presentation and a
seminar paper;
 The INDIVIDUAL seminar paper (maximum 1,000 words to be handed
in one week after the presentation) should be a summary of your
presentation in Spanish, including key information and conclusions,
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and include full references and a bibliography. An ESML cover sheet
should also accompany it.
The seminar presentation in Spanish should be no more than 25
minutes in length. You can refer to notes, but do not read the
seminar, as this will automatically result in a lower mark. After your
presentation, you are responsible for the organisation of the
remainder of the seminar in terms of a question and answer session,
which will be included in the overall assessment.
You are expected to see your tutor for advice on your seminar plans
at least one week before your seminar. Please do not wait until the
day before.
The individual seminar write-up is to be handed in the week after the
group presentation.
Essay titles:
1. ‘El verdadero artífice de transición a la democracia fue el
crecimiento económico de los años 60 y no Suárez’ (Laureano
López Rodó). Comente esta afirmación
2. ‘La Transición a la democracia en España tenía el consenso como
su base’ Comente esta afirmación.
3. Haga un balance del gobierno del PSOE durante los años ochenta.
4. ‘La corrupción, más que cualquier otro factor, explica la caída del
PSOE durante los años noventa’. Comente la veracidad de esta
afirmación.
5. ‘Considerando sus logros en el poder entre 1996 y 2004, el PP no
mereció perder las elecciones generales de marzo de 2004’.
Comente y evalúe esta afirmación.
6. Analice la transformación del PSOE bajo Rodríguez Zapatero desde
2000.
N.B. Deadline for essays is xxx
Seminar Titles:
1. ‘El problema fundamental de la UCD fue que no era de verdad un
partido político, sino más bien un grupo de intereses diferentes
que no compartían mucho en común salvo el deseo del poder’.
Comente esta afirmación.
2. Analice los antecedentes y consecuencias del golpe de estado del
23 de febrero de 1981
3. ¿Cómo se transformó el PSOE en un partido de gobierno entre 1974
y 1982?
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4. Herencia ambigua: Haga un balance de Felipe González como
Presidente del Gobierno entre 1982 y 1996.
5. ‘El problema del sistema de autonomías en España es que no tiene
límites y siempre habrá regiones que reclaman cada vez más
poder de Madrid’ Comente y evalúe esta afirmación.
6. Explique y analice la transformación en las perspectivas del
Partido Popular bajo José María Aznar.
Reading List:
Amodia, José (1994) The resurgence of nationalist movements in Europe,
Bradford, Bradford University Press (Chapters 10 and 11).
Astudillo Javier & Elena García-Guereta (2006) ‘If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix
It: The Spanish Popular Party in Power’, South European Society & Politics
Vol. 11, No. 3–4, September–December 2006, pp. 399–417 (this can be found
online as an electronic source available from the library’s webpage).
Balfour, Sebastián (2005) The Politics of Contemporary Spain, London,
Routledge.
Camiller, Patrick (1994) ‘Spain: The Survival of Socialism?’ in Perry Anderson
and Patrick Camiller (eds), Mapping the West European Left, London, Verso,
pp. 233-265.
Carr, Raymond and Fusi, Juan Pablo (1979) Spain. From Dictatorship to
Democracy (London, Allen and Unwin).
Chislett, W. (2008) Spain Going Places, Madrid, Telefónica (I’ll send you a pdf
copy of this book).
Colomer, Josep P. (1999) ‘The Spanish ‘State of Autonomies’: Non-Institutional
Federalism, in Paul Heywood (ed.) Power and Policy in Democratic Spain,
London, Frank Cass, pp. 40-52.
Díaz, Elías (1999) ‘Ideologies in the Making of the Spanish Transition’ in Paul
Heywood (ed.) Power and Policy in Democratic Spain, London, Frank Cass, pp.
26-39.
Encarnación, Omar G. (2008) Spanish Politics, Cambridge, Polity 320(46) ENC
(Available on 28-day, 7-day, 3-day and short loan).
Gibbons, John (1999) Spanish politics today, Manchester, Manchester
University Press.
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Gillespie, Richard (1996) ‘The Spanish Socialists’ in John Gaffney (ed.),
Political Parties and the European Union, London, Routledge, pp. 155-169.
Gillespie, Richard, Rodrigo, Fernando and Story, Jonathan (eds), (1995)
Democratic Spain: Reshaping External Relations in a Changing World, London,
Routledge.
Gillespie, Richard and Richard Youngs (eds) (2001) Spain: The European and
International Challenges, London, Frank Cass.
Gilmour, David (1985) The Transformation of Spain, London, Quartet.
Guerra, Alfonso and Tezanos, José Félix (eds) (1992) La década del cambio.
Diez años de gobierno socialista, 1982-1992, Madrid, Sistema.
Guibernau, M (1995) ‘Spain: A Federation in the Making?’, in G. Smith (ed)
Federalism The Multiethnic Challenge, London, Croom Helm.
Guibernau, M (2000) ‘Spain, Catalonia and the Basque Country’ in
Parliamentary Affairs (Vol 53 No. 1 pp. 55-68), Oxford, Oxford University
Press. (N. B. This article is also available online from the library – look for
Parliamentary Affairs under e-journals).
Gunther, Richard and José Ramón Montero (2009) The Politics of Spain,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (320 (46) GUN).
Heywood, Paul (1994b) ‘Political Corruption in Modern Spain’, in Distorting
Democracy: Political Corruption in Spain, Italy and Malta, CMS Occasional
Paper 10, Bristol, Centre for Mediterranean Studies, pp. 1-14. N.B. I will
provide you with a copy of this article.
Heywood, Paul (1995) The Government and Politics of Spain, Basingstoke,
Macmillan.
Heywood, Paul (1995b) ‘Sleaze in Spain’, Parliamentary Affairs, 48 (4), pp.
726-737. N.B. I will provide you with a copy of this article.
Heywood, Paul (1999) ‘Power Diffusion or Concentration? In Search of the
Spanish Policy Process’ in Paul Heywood (ed.) Power and Policy in Democratic
Spain, London, Frank Cass, pp. 103-123.
Heywood, Paul (1994) ‘Change Within Continuity: The Spanish Socialist
Workers’ Party’, paper presented at ECPR Joint Sessions, Madrid 17-22 April
1994 (I’ll provide you with a copy of this paper) .
Heywood, Paul and Carlos Closa (2004) Spain and the European Union,
Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
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Hollyman, John L. (1995) ‘The Tortuous Road to Regional Autonomy in Spain’,
Journal of the Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies, 8:1, pp. 12-23.
N.B. I will provide you with a copy of this article
Hopkin, Jonathan (1999) Party Formation and Democratic Transition in Spain,
Basingstoke, Macmillan.
Jiménez, Fernando (1999) ‘Political Scandals and Political Responsibility in
Democratic Spain’ in Paul Heywood (ed.) Power and Policy in Democratic
Spain, London, Frank Cass, pp. 80-99.
Juliá, Santos (1990) ‘The Ideological Conversion of the Leaders of the PSOE
1976-1979’ in Frances Lannon and Paul Preston, (eds) Elites and Power in
Twentieth-Century Spain. Essays in Honour of Sir Raymond Carr, Oxford,
Clarendon Press, pp. 269-285.
Juliá, Santos (2000) ‘The Socialist era, 1982-1996’ in José Álvarez Junco and
Adrian Shubert (eds) Spanish History since 1808, London, Arnold, pp. 331-344,
946.07 JUN.
Kennedy, Paul (1996) 'Europe or Bust?' International Journal of Iberian
Studies
(I’ll provide you with a copy of this)).
Kennedy, Paul (1997) 'The PSOE: Modernisation and the welfare state in
Spain' in Donald Sassoon (ed.) Looking Left: European socialism after the
Cold War (London, I.B.Tauris: 1997). (329.14(4) SAS) (pp. 88-108)
Kennedy, Paul (2000) 'Spain' in Manners, Ian Manners and Whitman, Richard
G., The Foreign policies of European Union Member States (Manchester,
Manchester University Press: 2000) (337.327 MAN) (Chapter 6, pp. 105-127).
Kennedy, Paul (2001) ‘Spain’s “Third Way”?: the Spanish Socialist Party’s
utilization of European integration, Journal of Southern Europe and the
Balkans (3:1) (May 2001) (students interested in this title will be provided
with copies of this article).
Kennedy, Paul (2007) ‘Phoenix from the Ashes: the PSOE Government under
Rodríguez Zapatero 2004-2007: a new model for social democracy?’,
International Journal of Iberian Studies, 20: 3, pp. 187-206. This is available
online from the electronic journals section of the Library webpage.
Lawlor, Teresa and Rigby (1998) Contemporary Spain, London, Longman.
Magone, José (2004) Contemporary Spanish Politics, London, Routledge
Marín, José María, Carme Molinero and Pere Ysàs (2001), Historia política de
España : 1939-2000, Madrid, Istmo, 320(46) MAR.
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Méndez Lago, Mónica (2006) ‘Turning the Page: Crisis and Transformation of
the Spanish Socialist Party’, South European Society & Politics, 11: 3/4. pp.
419–437 (this can be found online as an electronic source available for the
library’s webpage).
Martínez-Herrera, E. (2002) ‘From nation-building to building identification
with political communities: Consequences of political decentralisation in
Spain, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, 178-2001’, European
Journal of Political Research, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 421-453, Blackwell.
Moreno, Luis (2001) The Federalization of Spain, London, Cass.
Newton, Michael T. (with Peter J. Donaghy) (1997) Institutions of modern
Spain: A political and economic guide, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press.
Núnez-Seixas, X. (2000) ‘The reawakening of peripheral nationalisms and
the State of the Autonomous Communities’, in José Alvarez Junco and
Adrian Schubert (eds), Spanish History Since 1808, Chapter 20, London,
Arnold.
Paramio, L. (2004), ‘Un rayo en un día claro: el vuelco político en España,
International Journal of Iberian Studies, 17: 3, pp. 153–168 (I’ll give you a
copy of this).
Preston, Paul (1990) The Triumph of Democracy in Spain, London,
Routledge.
Preston, Paul (2005) Juan Carlos, London, Harper Perennial 946.084 CAR
(also available on 3-day loan).
Ross, Christopher J. (2000) Spain 1812-1994, London, Arnold (2nd Edition)
Ross, Christopher J. (2002) Spain: A Handbook, London, Arnold (2nd Edition)
Royo, Sebastián &P.C.Manuel (eds) (2003) Spain and Portugal in the
European Union: the first fifteen years (London, Frank Cass: 2003) (337.046
ROY & 337.046 ROY 3-DAY LOAN).
Salmon, Keith (2000) The Spanish economy: From the single market to EMU,
Mediterranean Politics, 5:2, pp.17-43. this can be found online:
http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/770030_751319457_784384609.pdf
Salmon, Keith (2002) The Spanish Economy from Maastricht to the
Millennium: Integration into Europe and transition to an open market
economy, paper prepared for delivery at the University of Bath, 5 December
2003 (I’ll provide you with a copy of this).
Soto Carmona, Álvaro (2005) Transición y cambio en España, 1975-1996,
Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 320(46) SOT
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Townson, Nigel (ed.) (2007) Spain Transformed. The Late Franco
Dictatorship, 1959-75 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 946.082 TOW.
Tusell, J. (2000) El gobierno de Aznar: balance de una gestión, 1996-2000,
Barcelona, Crítica, 320 (46) TUS
Tusell, J. and Sinova, J. (1992) La década socialista: el ocaso de Felipe
González, Madrid, Espasa, 329.14 (46) TUS.
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