Abstract
Spain’s economic crisis became a political crisis from 2011, when protest movements erupted in response to the direct effects of the former and the austerity regime that followed. However, this chapter suggests that the particularities of developments from 2011 are explicable not simply with reference to the proximate economic crisis but require an examination of Spain’s broader transition from dictatorship from the 1970s and its Europeanisation thereafter. Prioritising stability, that transition was built upon the marginalisation or incorporation of non-mainstream groups and the formation of a narrow two-party system. It is against this backdrop that this chapter traces post-2011 events: the emergence of the ‘indignados’ movement, the growth of separatism in Catalonia and the institutional challenges to the status quo at both local and national levels.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Bailey, D., M. Clua-Losada, N. Huke, and O. Ribera-Almandoz. 2017. Beyond Defeat and Austerity: Disrupting (the Critical Political Economy) of Neoliberal Europe. London: Routledge.
Bermeo, N. 1994. Sacrifice, Sequence, and Strength in Successful Dual Transitions: Lessons from Spain. The Journal of Politics 56 (3): 601–627.
Bruff, I. 2014. The Rise of Authoritarian Neoliberalism. Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society 26 (1): 113–129.
Campabadal, P., and F. Miralles. 2015. De Ciutadans a Ciudadanos. La otra cara del neoliberalismo. Madrid: Ediciones Foca.
Charnock, G., T. Purcell, and R. Ribera-Fumaz. 2014. The Limits to Capital in Spain. Crisis and Revolt in the European South. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Clua-Losada, M. 2015. Tracing the Competitiveness Discourse in Spain: Social Dumping in Disguise? In Social Dumping: Political Catchphrase or Threat to Labour Standards? ed. M. Bernaciak. London: Routledge, Routledge Advances in European Politics.
Clua-Losada, M., and O. Ribera-Almandoz. 2017. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Disciplining of Labour. In States of Discipline. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Crises of Capitalism, ed. C.B. Tansel. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield International.
Colomer, J.M. 1998. La transición a la democracia: el modelo español. Barcelona: Anagrama.
Crameri, K. 2015. Political Power and Civil Counterpower: The Complex Dynamics of the Catalan Independence Movement. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 21 (1): 104–120.
Day, R.J.F. 2005. Gramsci Is Dead. Anarchist Currents in the Newest Social Movements. London: Pluto Press.
Diario.es. 2012. Un año de gobierno: 28 decretos y 16 leyes. Weblink: http://www.eldiario.es/politica/decreto-decretazo-Rajoy-aniversario-gobierno-ley_0_81542266.html. Last accessed 15 Dec 2016.
Dowling, A. 2005. Convergència i Unió, Catalonia and the new Catalanism. In The Politics of Contemporary Spain, ed. S. Balfour. London: Routledge.
Elias, A. 2015. Catalan Independence and the Challenge of Credibility: The Causes and Consequences of Catalan Nationalist Parties’ Strategic Behavior. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 21 (1): 83–103.
Fishman, R. 1982. The Labor Movement in Spain: From Authoritarianism to Democracy. Comparative Politics 14 (3): 281–305.
Flesher Fominaya, C. 2014. Debunking Spontaneity: Spain’s 15-M/Indignados as Autonomous Movement. Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest 14: 142–163.
Gillespie, R. 2015. Between Accommodation and Contestation: The Political Evolution of Basque and Catalan Nationalism. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 21 (1): 3–23.
Gramsci, A. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Grugel, J. 2002. Democratization. A Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gunther, R. 1992. Spain: The Very Model of Modern Elite Settlement. In Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe, ed. J. Highley and R. Gunther. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Heywood, P. 2005. Corruption, Democracy and Governance in Contemporary Spain. In The Politics of Contemporary Spain, ed. S. Balfour. London: Routledge.
Hipsher, P. 1996. Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain. Comparative Politics 28 (3): 273–297.
Hopkin, J. 2005. From Consensus to Competition. The Changing Nature of Democracy in the Spanish Transition. In The Politics of Contemporary Spain, ed. S. Balfour. London: Routledge.
Huke, N., M. Clua-Losada, and D. Bailey. 2015. Disrupting the European Crisis: A Critical Political Economy of Contestation, Subversion and Escape. New Political Economy 20: 725–751.
Huntington, S.P. 1991. The Third Wave. Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. London: University of Oklahoma Press.
Jordana, J. 1996. Reconsidering Union Membership in Spain, 1977–1994: Halting Decline in a Context of Democratic Consolidation. Industrial Relations Journal 27 (3): 211–224.
Kassam, A. 2015. Ciudadanos, the ‘Podemos of the Right’ Emerges as a Political Force in Spain. The Guardian, March 13. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/13/ciudadanos-podemos-of-right-political-force-spain-albert-rivera. Last accessed 15 Dec 2016.
López, I., and E. Rodríguez. 2011. The Spanish Model. New Left Review 69: 5–28.
Mainwaring, S., and M.S. Shugart, eds. 1997. Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martí, D. 2013. The 2012 Catalan Election: The First Step Towards Independence? Regional & Federal Studies 23 (4): 507–516.
Moreno, L. 2013. Spain’s Catch Up with the EU Core: The Implausible Quest of a ‘Flying Pig’? South European Society and Politics 18 (2): 217–236.
Observatorio Metropolitano. 2014. La apuesta municipalista. La democracia empieza por lo cercano. Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.
Parker, O. 2016. Spanish Politics in Major Flux. SPERI Blog. Available from: http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/2016/01/20/spanish-politics-in-major-flux/.
Rodríguez, E. 2013. Hipótesis Democracia. Quince tesis para la revolución anunciada. Madrid: Traficantes de sueños.
Serrano, I. 2013. Just a Matter of Identity? Support for Independence in Catalonia. Regional & Federal Studies 23 (5): 523–545.
Spourdalakis, M. 2014. The Miraculous Rise of the “Phenomenon SYRIZA”. Critical Thought 4: 354–366.
Tansel, C.B. 2017. States of Discipline: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Contested Reproduction of Capitalist Order. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield International.
Tarrow, S. 1995. Mass Mobilization and Regime Change: Pacts, Reform and Popular Power in Italy (1918–1922) and Spain (1975–1978). In The Politics of Democratic Consolidation. Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective, ed. R. Gunther, P. Diamandouros, and H.J. Puhle. London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tremlett, G. 2015. The Podemos Revolution: How a Small Group of Radical Academics Changed European Politics. The Guardian, March 31. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/podemos-revolution-radical-academics-changed-european-politics.
Ubasart-González, G. 2012. Municipalizo Alternativo y Popular. ¿Hacia una consolidación de las tesis del nuevo localismo y la politización del mundo local? Revista de Estudios Políticos 157: 135–162.
Wigger, A. 2016. From Dissent to Resistance: Locating Patterns if Horizontalist Self-Management Crisis Responses in Spain. Comparative European Politics. OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-016-0076-4.
Zechner, M. 2015. Barcelona en Comú: The City as Horizon for Radical Democracy. Roar Magazine. Available from: https://roarmag.org/essays/barcelona-en-comu-guanyem/.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Clua-Losada, M. (2018). The Unfolding of Spain’s Political Crisis: From the Squares to the Ballot Box. In: Parker, O., Tsarouhas, D. (eds) Crisis in the Eurozone Periphery. Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69721-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69721-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69720-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69721-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)