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Reassessing the Role of Civil Society Organizations in the Transition to Democracy in Spain

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13510340802362521

1743-890X

Mónica Threlfall,

Spanish History and Politics

Abstract Spain's democratization process has mainly been described as a settlement between political elites in which civil society organizations played little part. Yet the literature on Eastern European democratization sets great store by the role of civil society, both for transition and consolidation. Does this different treatment reflect the approach adopted by analysts or the actual contrasting presence of civil society organizations in the relevant periods? The question prompts this re-examination of the role of civil society organizations in the Spanish transition. It finds that the answer depends in part on definitions of civil society, but mainly on the approach taken by authors in presenting their accounts. It finds that the elite settlement perspective silences or removes agency from the Spanish civil society organizations active in the transition. An alternative view is developed through an in-depth review of the events following the death of the dictator General Franco in 1975 and a textual analysis of Spain's actual definitive settlement, the 1978 Constitution. The research demonstrates that civil society organizations were responsible for disrupting the dictatorship's intention to maintain an authoritarian regime, leaving it no option but to negotiate with civil society organizations such as political parties and trade unions, which were pursuing their own strategic goals towards co-construction of a socially advanced democracy. The article's approach bridges the gulf between top-down and bottom-up accounts of political change in Spain at the end of the Franco regime. Keywords: Spanish politicsdemocratizationelite pactscivil society organizations Acknowledgements I am grateful for the helpful comments and information received from Felipe Aguero, Rafaella Bianchi, Bezen Coskun, Robert Fishman, Richard Gunther, Gutmaro López-Bravo, Natalie Martin, Gloria Nielfa Paul Preston, Pamela Radcliff, Don Share, Sidney Tarrow, Matt Wilson, and two anonymous referees. Notes J. J. Linz and A. Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996). See the clear exposé of the issues by Paul Pierson and Theda Skocpol, Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science, http://www.polisci.berkeley.edu/faculty/bio/permanent/Pierson,P/Discipline.pdf. My thanks to Ann-Jorunn Berg for drawing my attention to the possibility of using this term outside of the natural sciences, psychology, and psychotherapy literatures. The LSE's Centre for Civil Society for instance, gives a definition that does not mention political parties. See http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/introduction.htm. D. I. Pietrzyk, 'Democracy or Civil Society?', Politics, Vol. 23, No. 1 (2003), pp. 38–45, p. 38. J. Keane, Democracy and Civil Society (London: University of Westminster Press, 1988), p. xx. Ibid., p. 58. A. Arato, Civil Society, Constitution and Legitimacy (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), chapter 2. P. Schmitter, 'Introduction to Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey', in G. O'Donnell, P. Schmitter and L. Whitehead, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Southern Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986) pp. 3–10, pp. 6–7. Schmitter (note 9), p. 8. Linz and Stepan (note 1), pp. 7–8. P. Kopecky and C. Mudde, 'Rethinking Civil Society', Democratization, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2003), pp. 1–14, p. 5. Ibid. N. Bobbio, 'Gramsci and the Concept of Civil Society' in J. Keane (ed.) Civil Society and the State (London: Verso, 1988), pp. 73–99. J. Manor, Civil Society and Poverty Reduction in Less Developed Countries. A Guide for Practitioners (University of Sussex: Institute of Development Studies, Policy Brief 11), p. 7, http://www.ids.ac.uk/index.cfm?objectId=3AA9E6C8‐A33F‐E7E4‐E277FEE6ADD854BD. P. Preston, Franco: A Biography (London: HarperCollins, 1993). Catholic church-run youth organizations have been left out as the Church was officially part of the state, though some of them later turned against the regime. See R. Gunther, G. Sani, and G. Shabad, Spain after Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System (Berkeley: University of California Press 1988), p. 29. J. Amsden, Collective Bargaining and Class Conflict in Spain (London: LSE and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972). M. Gallo, Spain under Franco: A History (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1973). J. Monds, 'Syndicalism and Revolution in Spain: The Workers' Commissions', Radical America, Vol. 9, No. 2 (1975), pp. 49–78. S. Balfour, Dictatorship, Workers and the City: Labour in Greater Barcelona since 1939 (Oxford: OUP, 1989). J. Foweraker, Making Democracy in Spain (Cambridge: CUP, 1989). Also La democracia española: los verdaderos artífices de la democracia en España (Madrid: Arias Montano Editores, 1989). R. Fishman, Working Class Organization and the Return to Democracy in Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990). N. Jones, 'El problema catalán desde la guerra civil', in P. Preston (1978) (ed.), España en crisis (Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica), pp. 389–444. Robert P. Clarke, The Basques: The Franco Years and Beyond (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1979). J. M. Maravall, Dictatorship and Political Dissent: Workers and Students in Franco's Spain (New York: St Martin's Press, 1978). Spanish version: Dictadura y disentimiento político: obreros y estudiantes bajo el franquismo (Madrid: Alfaguara, 1978). S. Giner, 'Libertad y poder político en la universidad española: el movimineto democrático bajo el franquismo', in P. Preston (ed.), España en crisis (Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica), pp. 303–356. M. Castells, Ciudad, democracia y socialismo (Madrid: Siglo XXI, 1977). J. Busquets, Militares y demócratas (Barcelona: Plaza y Janés, 1999). G. Di Febo, Resistencia y movimiento de mujeres en España 1936–1976 (Barcelona: Editorial Icaria, 1979). M. Threlfall, 'The Women's Movement in Spain', New Left Review, No. 151, June–July 1985, pp. 45–73. Foweraker (note 22). Balfour (note 21), p. 216; Fishman (note 23), chapter 4. P. B. Radcliff, 'Imagining Female Citizenship in the "New Spain": Gendering the Democratic Transition, 1975–1978', Gender & History, Vol. 13, No. 3, November 2001, pp. 498–523. Only in 2007 was a major archive-based work published: Sartorius and Sabio on the end of the dictatorship, but it is not a historical narrative. N. Sartorius and A. Sabio, El final de la dictadura: la conquista de la democracia en España Noviembre de 1975–Junio de 1977 (Madrid: Ediciones Temas de Hoy, 2007). V. Pérez Díaz, The Return of Civil Society: The Emergence of Democratic Spain (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), p. 30. For the original Spanish book see: El retorno de la sociedad civil: respuestas sociales a la transición política. G. Parry, Political Elites (Colchester: ECPR Press, 2005), p. 2. Ibid. R. Gunther, 'Spain: The Very Model of the Modern Elite Settlement' in J. Higley and R. Gunther (eds), Elite and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 38–80, p. 51. Ibid., p. 52. Ibid., p. 54. Ibid., p. 67. R. Gunther, G. Sani and G. Shabad, Spain after Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), p. 36. M. Burton, R. Gunther and J. Higley, 'Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe: An Overview', in J. Higley and R. Gunther (eds), Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe (Cambridge: CUP, 1992), pp. 323–48. Written communication from the author 2 June 2007. Ibid. J. J. Linz, 'Innovative Leadership in the Transition to Democracy and a New Democracy: The Case of Spain', in G. Sheffer (ed.) Innovative Leaders of International Politics (New York: SUNY, 1993), pp. 141–86, pp. 148–9. See for instance S. Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: CUP, 1998). C. T. Powell, España en la democracia, 1975-2000 (Madrid: Plaza y Janés, 2002), p. 130. D. Share, The Making of Spanish Democracy (New York: Praeger Press, 1986), pp. 206, 203. Gunther (note 39), p. 55. Ibid., pp. 68–7, p. 71. Ibid. pp. 77–8. Linz & Stepan (note 1), p. 92. Ibid., p. 111. For the internal debates around strategies within the PSOE and PCE in this period see R. Gillespie, The Spanish Socialist Party: A History of Factionalism (Oxford: OUP, 1989); F. Claudín, Santiago Carrillo: Crónica de un Secretario General (Barcelona: Planeta, 1983); C. Martínex Cobo and J. Martínez Cobo, La segunda renovación: intrahistoria del PSOE (Barcelona: Plaza y Janes, 1991); S. Juliá, Los Socialistas en la Política Española 1979-1982 (Madrid: Taurus, 1997), amongst others. Pérez Díaz (note 36), p. 42. Linz and Stepan (note 1), p. 111. Tarrow (note 48), p. 159. N. Bermeo, 'Myths of Moderation: Confrontation and Conflict During Democratic Transitions', Comparative Politics, Vol. 29, No. 3, April 1997, pp. 305–22, pp. 309–10. For instance, the 1,000+ pages of proceedings of a large conference on the history of the transition contain no papers on the role of public opposition activity in the transition process. J. Tusell, J. M Marín, I. Sepúlveda, S. Sueiro and A. Mateos (eds), Historia de la transición y consolidación democrática en España, Vols I and II (Madrid: UNED and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1996). Fishman (note 23), pp. 138–45. Pérez Díaz (note 36), p. 52. J. M. Maravall, La política de la transición 1975–80 (Madrid: Taurus, 1981), pp. 17–31. Ibid., p. 15. M. Pérez Ledesma, 'Nuevos y viejos movimientos sociales', in C. Molinero (ed.), La transición, treinta años después (Barcelona: Península, 2006), pp. 117–52. See http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/eu/people/academics/Threlfall‐Monica.html for the full chronology. Preston (note 16), p. 775. N. Sartorius and A. Sabio, El final de la dictadura: la conquista de la democracia en España Noviembre de 1975-junio de 1977 (Madrid: Ediciones Temas de Hoy, 2007), p. 256. Powell (note 49), p. 88, citing F. García de Cortázar and J. M. Azcona, El nacionalismo vasco (Madrid: Historia 16, 1976). Ibid., p. 77. P. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (London: Harper Perennial, 2005), p. 324. V. Prego, Así se hizo la transición (Barcelona: Plaza y Janés, 1995), p. 375; Arias confirms this unequivocally as late as 11 February 1976. According to C. Powell, Juan Carlos of Spain: Self-made Monarch (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996), p. 93. Spanish version: Juan Carlos: una rey para la democracia (Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 1995). Juan Carlos I, Interview with A. de Borchgrave, Newsweek, 4 November 1975, cited in C. Powell (note 72), p. 170. Carrillo was in the process of formulating his 'Eurocommunist' beliefs on the parliamentary road to democracy, but also expressed hope for mass mobilisation in public declarations. See S. Carrillo, Interview with Oriana Fallaci, L'Europeo, October 1975, cited in Prego (note 73), p. 375. Prego (note 73), p. 279, pp. 373–81. Powell Juan Carlos: una rey para la democracia, (note 73), p. 172. Juliá (note 55); Powell Juan Carlos of Spain (note 73), p. 97. Such as S. Ellwood, 'La clase obrera bajo el regimen de Franco', in P. Preston (ed.), España en crisis, Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica, pp. 265–302, and Maravall, La política de la transición (note 64), pp. 24, 26, as well as P. Preston 'La oposición anti-franquista: la larga marcha hacia la unidad' in P. Preston (ed.), España en crisis (Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1978), p. 262. Balfour (note 21), p. 220. Balfour (note 21). Juliá (note 56), p. 450; Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 337. Sartorius and Sabio (note 69), p. 714. Juliá (note 56), p. 451. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 344. Ibid., p. 346. E. R. Arango, The Spanish Political System: Franco's Legacy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978), p. 250. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 71), p. 341. E. Ruiz Galacho, Historia de las Comisiones Obreras de Sevilla (Seville: Universidad de Sevilla, 2002), p.177. J. Aróstegui, 'La transición política y la construcción de la democracia', in J. A. Martínez (ed.), Historia de España Siglo XX (Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 1999), pp. 251–70, p. 253; Juliá (note 55), p. 451. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 342. P. Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (London: Methuen, 1986), p. 87. R. Carr and J. P. Fusi, Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy (London: Allen & Unwin, 1981, 2nd edition), p. 210. Ibid., p. 210, citing La Vanguardia, 4 October 1977, and Sartorius and Sabio (note 69), p. 79, citing later Ministerio de Gobernación figures. Arango (note 87), p. 248, using official figures. R. P. Clarke, The Basques: The Franco Years and Beyond (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1979), p. 271. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 343. Clarke (note 96), p. 271. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 347. Ibid., p. 345, using Coordinación Democrática Minutes in La Oposición Española (1976), Documentos Secretos, Madrid. E. Ruiz Galacho, Historia de las Comisiones Obreras de Sevilla (Seville: Universidad de Sevilla, 2002), pp. 178–9. P. Ortuño Anaya, 'The Involvement of the ICFTU in Pre-Democratic Spain 1960–1977', International Journal of Iberian Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1999), pp. 93–106, p. 104. J. V. Iriarte Areso, Movimiento Obrero en Navarra 1967–1977: organización y conflictividad (Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, 1995), p. 258. Carr, R. and Fusi, J. P. 1979 (1st edition), p. 215, as above (note 93). Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 348. Ibid., p. 349, citing La Vanguardia, 21 May 1976. P. Román Marugán, 'Cronología de la transición y la consolidación democrática', in R. Cotarelo (ed.), Transición política y consolidación democrática: España 1975–1986 (Madrid: CIS, 1992), p. 551. Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (note 72), p. 350; Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (note 92), p. 88; Román Marugán (note 107), p. 552. Ruiz Galacho (note 101), p. 181. J. M. Maravall and J. Santamaría, 'Political Change in Spain and the Prospects for Democracy', in Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter (eds), Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), pp. 71–108, p. 82. Ruiz Galacho (note 101), p. 182. Iriarte Areso (note 103), p. 161, as above, citing Gaceta del Derecho Social July–August 1976, No. 62, p. 62. Arango (note 87), p. 253. Ibid., p. 249. R. Cotarelo, 'Visiones de la transición', Revista del Centro de Estudios Consitucionales, No. 18, 1994, pp. 9–78, p. 64. See also G. Peces Barba's discussion of the social clauses in the transition in 'The Constitutional Consensus and the Basque Challenge', in M. Threlfall (ed.) Consensus Politics in Spain: Insider Perspectives (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2001), pp. 61–76. J. Colomer, La transición a la democracia: el modelo español (Barcelona: Anagrama, 1998), p. 119. Cotarelo (note 115), p. 36. For the English language version, see http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Spanish_Constitution_of_1978 Compare with the legal requirement for central and regional public authorities known as the 'gender equality duty', which came into force no less than 30 years later (6 April 2007). C. Powell, El Piloto del cambio: el rey, la monarquía y la transición a la democracia (Barcelona: Planeta, 1991). Even though the subtitle of this work is 'Steering Spain from Dictatorship'. Ortuño Anaya (note 102), p. 105. Sartorius and Sabio (note 35). Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (note 92), p. 86. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMonica ThrelfallMonica Threlfall is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.