Spanish Case Study

Abstract

Spain has frequently and correctly been offered as a model of how to negotiate a democratic transition and consolidate a democracy. The transition from authoritarianism to democracy was initiated in the late 1970s and completed with the election of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) in 1982. It was the forerunner in the contemporary “third wave” of democracy. A, if not the, crucial factor in the overall process of the Spanish transition was the resolution of civil–military relations. The Spanish transition provides an example of a “success story.” As such it is particularly useful to analyze for it can shed light on strategies of transition which are likely to promote as opposed to undermine democratic consolidation.