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El miedo al «cambio incontrolable»: la hora fallida de Fraga durante la Transición española

2016; Centro de Estudios Constitucionales; Issue: 174 Linguagem: Inglês

10.18042/cepc/rep.174.01

1989-0613

Juan María Sánchez-Prieto, Guillermo Zafra,

Spanish Culture and Identity

The image of a successful political transition is linked in Spain to three key words: reform, centrism and democracy. The political actors of that moment did not agree on their meaning, whilst scholars today do not agree on which political groups supported and promoted political change in Spain at that time. This paper analyses the role of Manuel Fraga Iribarne during the late stage of the Francoist Regime and the first stage of the Spanish Transition. It highlights the image of the past which characterised his project of political reform. This explains better the presence of Cánovas del Castillo and other historical references of the Restauración in Fraga´s discourse and political behaviour. These references, more than being simply a manifestation of his political use of the past, unmask the lack of identity of his own political project, his disconnection from social change and the difficulties arising from his relationship with the King. These are argued to be the main reasons for his Fraga’s defeat at precisely the moment he had coveted throughout his political career, revealing his fear of a “change out of control”.