Kingdom of Spain Reino de España (Spanish) | |||||||||||
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| 1975–1982 | |||||||||||
.svg) Flag
(1977–1981) .svg) Coat of arms
(1977–1981) | |||||||||||
| Motto: Una, Grande y Libre ("One, Great and Free") Plus Ultra ("Further Beyond") | |||||||||||
| Anthem: Marcha Real ("Royal March") | |||||||||||
.svg) The Kingdom of Spain in 1975 | |||||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Madrid | ||||||||||
| Official languages | Spanish After 1978: Catalan, Basque, Galician | ||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism (state religion until 1978) | ||||||||||
| Government |
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| King | |||||||||||
• 1975–1982 | Juan Carlos I | ||||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1975–1976 | Carlos Arias Navarro | ||||||||||
• 1976–1981 | Adolfo Suárez | ||||||||||
• 1981–1982 | Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo | ||||||||||
| Legislature |
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| Senate | |||||||||||
| Congress of Deputies | |||||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||||
• Death of Franco | 20 November 1975 | ||||||||||
| 18 November 1976 | |||||||||||
| 15 June 1977 | |||||||||||
| 15 October 1977 | |||||||||||
| 29 December 1978 | |||||||||||
| 1 March 1979 | |||||||||||
| 23 February 1981 | |||||||||||
| 28 October 1982 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Spanish peseta | ||||||||||
| Calling code | +34 | ||||||||||
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| History of Spain |
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| Timeline |
The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as la Transición (IPA: [la tɾansiˈθjon]; 'the Transition') or la Transición española ('the Spanish Transition'), is a period of modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system, in the form of constitutional monarchy under Juan Carlos I.
The democratic transition began after the death of Francisco Franco, in November 1975.[1] Initially, "the political elites left over from Francoism" attempted "to reform of the institutions of dictatorship" through existing legal means,[2] but social and political pressure saw the formation of a democratic parliament in the 1977 general election, which had the imprimatur to write a new constitution that was then approved by referendum in December 1978. The following years saw the beginning of the development of the rule of law and establishment of regional government, amidst ongoing terrorism, an attempted coup d'état and global economic problems.[2] The Transition is said to have concluded after the landslide victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the 1982 general election and the first peaceful transfer of executive power. Democracy was on the road to being consolidated.[2][a]
The end result of the Transition according to Casanova was "at least from 1982 onwards, a parliamentary monarchy, based on a democratic constitution, with a large number of rights and freedoms, the consequence of a complex transition, riddled with conflicts, foreseen and unforeseen obstacles and problems, in the context of economic crisis and political uncertainty."[2] However, as then-prime minister González said later, "the state apparatus was retained, in its entirety, from the dictatorship".[5]
Importantly, most of the significant aspects in the Transition were adopted by consensus between the governments and the opposition.[6] In addition to this pragmatic, civic, "a-nationalist" leadership in Madrid, contributing factors to the success of the Transition were a Monarchy as a cohesive unitary symbol and the neutralisation of the Army's influence on political life.[7] Additionally, the contrasting action of Basque violence and the peaceful mobilisation of Catalonia, successfully transformed Spanish politics during the Transition.[8]
While often cited as a paradigm of peaceful, negotiated transition, political violence during the Spanish transition was far more prevalent than during the analogous democratization processes in Greece or Portugal, with the emergence of separatist, leftist, fascist and vigilante terrorist groups and police violence.[9][10]
The re-democratization also led to Spain's integration into Europe, a dream of Spanish intellectuals since the end of the 19th century.[11] Previous attempts at democratization included the First Spanish Republic and the Second Spanish Republic.
- ^ Colomer Rubio 2012, p. 260.
- ^ a b c d Casanova & Gil Andrés 2014, p. 291.
- ^ Ortuño Anaya 2005, p. 22.
- ^ Tremlett 2008, p. 379.
- ^ Tremlett 2008, p. 142, quoting Felipe Gonzalez.
- ^ Aguilar 2009, p. 505.
- ^ Conversi 2002, p. 223.
- ^ Conversi 2002, p. 224.
- ^ Sánchez-Cuenca & Aguilar 2009, p. 429.
- ^ Tremlett 2008, p. 77: "More than a hundred demonstrators, left-wing activists, students and separatists were killed by the police or the ultras, the far right. Many more were killed by ETA and other left-wing or separatist terrorist groups".
- ^ Casanova & Gil Andrés 2014, p. 356.
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