Citizenship and Democracy in the Spanish Countryside

Abstract

This chapter analyzes two key issues related to the interaction between local mobilization and national change. First, it deals with what was happening in most Spanish towns and villages while the main (national) treaties were being signed in Madrid. Second, it deals with what life was like in these towns and villages during the period when there was a democratic government at the national level (since April 1977), but local democratic elections had not yet been held. Focusing on these issues, the chapter provides an analysis of the process of democratization in Southern Spain, paying attention to the building process of Social Citizenship. Three towns serve as case studies for this chapter: Osuna (Sevilla), Montefrío (Granada) and Carcabuey (Córdoba).

This research was supported by “Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia. Junta de Andalucía: Democracia y ciudadanía en la Andalucía contemporánea, 1868-1982, (P07-HUM-031739)” and by “Universidad Pablo de Olavide: líneas de investigación propias (PPI1201)”.