1st Edition

Spain's 'Second Transition'? The Socialist Government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Edited By Bonnie N. Field Copyright 2011
    174 Pages
    by Routledge

    174 Pages
    by Routledge

    Few would have imagined the developments and the extent of reforms that occurred under Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero between 2004 and 2008. Under Zapatero, Spain rapidly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq, held a very public political debate on the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship, passed very progressive social legislation that included gay marriage and adoption as well as a sweeping gender equality act, and expanded autonomy in six of Spain’s 17 regions. It has become quite common to refer to some or all of these developments as a ‘second transition’ that alters or revisits policies, institutional arrangements and political strategies that were established during Spain’s transition to democracy.

    This book analyzes the patterns of continuity and change and provides a nuanced, critical evaluation of the concept of a ‘second transition’. Three broad questions are addressed. First, to what degree do the developments under Zapatero’s Socialist government represent a departure from prior patterns of Spanish politics? Second, what accounts for the continuities and departures? Finally, the project begins to assess the implications of these developments. Are there lasting effects, for example, on political participation, electoral alignments, interparty and inter-regional relations more broadly?

    This book was published as a special issue of South European Society & Politics.

    1. A ‘Second Transition’? The Socialist Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004-08), by Bonnie N. Field (Assistant Professor, Department of International Studies, Bentley University, Massachusetts)

    2. From Corporatism to Pluralism? Interest Politics in Zapatero’s Spain, by Omar G. Encarnación (Associate Professor and Chair of Political Studies, Bard College, New York)

    3. Immigration and the Labor Movement in Zapatero’s Spain, by Andrew Richards (Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Juan March Institute, Madrid)

    4. Territorial Politics in Zapatero’s Spain, by Diego Muro (Lecturer in European Studies, King’s College London)

    5. Zapatero and the Challenges of Economic Reforms, by Sebastián Royo (Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Government, Suffolk University, Massachusetts)

    6. Legislative Politics and Party Polarization in Spain, 2004-2008, by Bonnie N. Field (Assistant Professor, Department of International Studies, Bentley University, Massachusetts)

    7. Citizenship Policies and the Political Involvement of Minorities in Zapatero’s Spain, by Kerman Calvo (Research Fellow, Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Madrid) and Irene Martín (Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

    8. Business as Usual: EU Policy under Zapatero, by Carlos Closa (Senior Researcher, Spanish Research Council (CSIC))

    9. Spanish Foreign Policy under Zapatero, by Charles Powell (Deputy Director, Elcano Royal Institute, and Professor of History, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid)

    Biography

    Bonnie N. Field is Assistant Professor of Global Studies at Bentley University, Massachusetts, USA. She has published articles in Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Democratization, PS: Political Science and Politics, Party Politics, Revista Española de Ciencia Política, and Electoral Studies. She is co-editor (with Kerstin Hamann) of Democracy and Institutional Development: Spain in Comparative Theoretical Perspective, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008.