Spain - Political and Overall Culture - Research Paper Example

Spain: Overall Culture With a population of 45,000,000, Spain is the second biggest nation in the European Union, following France and has a total land area of 505,000 square kilometers (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 1). Relatively, it’s bigger than California and smaller than Texas. Geographically, Spain is split into three major parts: Mainland (Peninsular Spain), North African territories (Melilla and Ceuta) the Islands (Canary and Balearic islands) (Kohen, Elizabeth, and Marie 7). The mainland constitutes approximately 95% of the total land area in Spain (Lior, and Tara 11). Spain is re-known as the land of flamenco and bullfights, blazing heat and dusty landscape churches and castles. Moreover, it is also home to a rich cultural heritage which has been influenced by many people who have conquered Spain over thousands of years ((Lior, and Tara 4) (Faiella 7). The evidence of Spanish culture is visible everywhere, in the ancient ruins and castles that dot the landscape; in the art, music and folk dances enjoyed in different regions; in the festivals, called fiestas celebrated throughout the year and in the languages spoken around the country (Lior, and Tara 4). Undoubtedly, Spain belongs to a select group of developed western democracies- nevertheless, little over three decades ago- Spain was a comparatively shy nation mostly isolated from its European neighbors and ruled by dictatorship- even more than other countries cannot be appreciated without some understanding of its history (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 1). One explanation for the prevalent interest in Spain’s political culture is the remarkably peaceful as well as successful political transition since 1975. From a dictatorial political structure to a contemporary liberal democratic system, a succession of deep changes which have far reaching cultural consequences. Up to 1975, Spain was an abnormality in Europe, the longest as well as last surviving remnant of the military autocracies of the 1930’s. A bare seven years afterward, Spain not only held free elections, parliamentary government and a ratified democratic constitution, nevertheless had established a center left social democrat regime. Spain accomplished this by a blend of modernization as well adaptation of existing establishments as well as creative ideologies such as the substitution of unyielding unitary democratic structure of the Franco autocracy with a quasi-federal constitution producing a structure of autonomous communities which acknowledge the political, economic, as well as cultural diversity of the Peninsula (Eamonn, p.x). A fundamental feature of the Spain’s democracy is its territorial description as state of autonomies. The autonomous communities in Spain include: Asturias, Aragon, Balearics, Anadalusia, Basque country, Cantabria, Canaries, Castilla Leon, Castilla Mancha, Extremadura, Catalonia, La Rioja, Galicia, Murcia, Madrid, Valencian community, Navarre, Melila and Ceuta (Jose 192). In addition, the mix of innovation as well continuity is central to Spain’s cultural developments for instance, contemporary dances as well as music which have integrated established forms reminiscent of Flamenco into novel forms of expression that connect Spain’s culture to various adventurous interest groups in Europe and beyond. Besides, advances in areas like visual arts as well as poetry have re-joined with various gallant insights of the 1930’s lacking any sense of backward-looking. In addition, nonetheless Spain’s cultural life has thrived in freer circumstances of democracy; the extensively held opinion of the Franco dictatorship as a cultural wilderness, though partially true, is an overstatement (Eamonn x). Spain’s Political culture within its Overall Culture Not many European countries have experienced as many remarkable political, economic and cultural transformations in the mid-20th century as Spain, and thus far have thrived in setting up stable, wholly consolidated democratic structures. Spain installed a completely democratic system in 1931, the first in its protracted history. Nevertheless it was exceptionally unstable, furthermore disintegrated in a blood-spattered civil war barely half a decade after its establishment. An interval of almost forty years of dictatorial rule ensued. Spain’s political transition to democracy started in 1975; nevertheless in a very small interlude of time Spain was capable to institute a steady, merged parliamentary monarchy impossible to differentiate in many ways from many other European democracies. Consequently, over the course of barely six decades, Spain underwent an unusually extensive collection of political occurrences: from polarized, unstable democratic system, to civil war, to dictatorial oppression, to vague transition, to triumphant democratic consolidation (Gunther, M. Jose, and I. Jose 28). Regardless of this, as spectacular as it may be, evidence fails to do complete justice to the scale of social, political, economic as well as cultural changes that Spain has experienced. Certainly, amid Francos demise in 1975 and middle 1980s Spain’s political structure experienced two transitions: one from dictatorship to democracy, the other from an exceedingly consolidated state to one in which considerable economic resources as well as political power have been transferred to autonomous regional governments. The scale of social-structural transformation has been just as remarkable. From a state of underdevelopment, Spain changed itself into a nation whose social as well as economic characteristics were similar to those of other developed European societies in under two decades, In contrast most other European nations needed to fifty or sixty years grow economically (Gunther, M. Jose, and I. Jose). How Spain’s political culture approaches conflict and cooperation generally Undoubtedly, Spain’s post-Franco transition from autocracy to democracy corresponds to an extraordinary political accomplishment. Certainly, the Spanish transition has over and over again been hailed as a way for attaining reconciliation of conflicting demands and forces: Apart from the opposing dreams of Spain’s future being put up in a flexible constitutional resolution, however there was also far reaching agreement over need to overlook the past and avoid allocating responsibility as well as blame. Though, Spain’s transition has been nearly universally invoked as triumph, there is no consensus over the value of the political culture which occurred. In practical terms, modern Spain is indisputably a wholly fledged constituent of the international as well as European communities; living up to such commonly recognized pointers as widespread as well as open involvement in the decision making processes and political system, protection of human rights and civil liberties. At least, Spain compares in such areas with its West European correspondents. None the less, fears persist to be articulated about a variety of aspects of its political culture. Issues have been articulated over the presumed poor growth of the civil society, marginalization of trade unions, continued tension between the center and the regions, the low standard of corporate governance as well as the reservation of the decision making process to a few elite. In particular, there have been the accusations of corruption directed at governments-particularly in the last years of the socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez i.e. (1982-1996). Even though there were few fraud scandals following the attainment of power in 1996 of Jose Maria Aznar’s right wing Popular Party, the BBVA Bank cases and the Gescartera investment company which arose correspondingly in 2001 and 2002 guaranteed that the issue of corruption has remained high on the program of critics of Spain’s political performance. Certainly Spain tends to be classified with its European neighbors as being additionally corrupt than north European countries (Sebastian 41). That corruption should be a particular concern is understandable, given the growing as well as clear evidence that it not only destabilizes good governance as well as economic efficiency but also results in public cynicism with the very practice of democracy (Sebastian 40). How Spain’s political culture approaches international conflict and cooperation specifically Spain’s guiding principles towards Europe is partially shaped by the past. Some of the important landmarks entail the following: (i) the fact that since the Napoleonic battles, Spain lacked the status of a great European power, a sharp turn down from the well-known position it had occupied in previous centuries. (ii) in spite of the official neutrality in the Second World War. Franco’s Spain was synonymous with the axis powers. In 1946, UN encouraged its member states to break diplomatic relations with Spain (UN later reversed the policy in 1950). Spain did not receive any Marshall Aid money. (iii) In 1953, Spain’s isolation was broken by military base agreements reached with U.S.A and a concordat with the Vatican. (iv)Franco’s regime legacy was that Europe was synonymous with EC (European Community) and democracy; and U.S.A and NATO with dictatorship (Gibbons 139). The fact remains that Spain is among the poorer EU member states. The European vocation so dreamt of by modernizers is by no means a certainty and carries some risks. While successive governments have remained committed to the concept of a European Union, the direction of integration and opportunities hoped for by Spain are more likely to be decided by the actions of the biggest EU member states. Achievement of the convergence criteria for EMU may admit Spain to the first wave of a single currency, but the full realization of this project will depend on the actions of France and Germany. Spain still remains subordinate to the security policy of the Atlantic looking powers of Western Europe. NATO’s reputation was the subject to suspicion for a substantial period within Spain, and in spite of considerable efforts, a European defense and security identity remains distant. Despite a prolonged and largely successful campaign to play a role in Europe; notable diplomatic successes for Spain have been few and far between (p.198. Spain’s more prominent international role has been a product of domestic transition. This does not mean that the legacy of Spain isolation has been lost, but that the adoption of foreign policy positions remains conditioned by its political culture (Eamonn 198). For all the massive political changes Spain has experienced since Franco died, possibly the greatest changes to impinge on Spain in current decades are economic. In the 1950’s, Spain was considered by the United Nations as part of the third world countries. Now Spain has the globes ninth biggest Gross Domestic Product and its companies are the sixth largest net investor overseas and globally (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 139). In today’s fast globalizing planet, it is difficult to understand just how isolated the Spanish economy was back in 1975. Spain’s economic prosperity of the 1960s and at the beginning of 1970s was founded mostly on heavy industries, for example ship building, mining, chemicals and metal working. The businesses involved were rigorously short of contemporary equipment; in its place they were dependent on comparatively out-dated technology as well as a copious supply of cheap labour. A lot of industries received significant government financing. Practically none of the Spanish industries was in a position to contend with their better equipped correspondents in other European countries (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 140). As a result, industrial exports from Spain were negligible, at the same time Spain’s manufacturing companies were heavily dependent on the fortification of their home market from overseas imports. For the most part Spain inflicted abnormally lofty taxes on various imports. Spain put set up an intricate system of quotas on specific goods, in addition to other types of non-tariff barriers. Through these assorted avenues the prices and accessibility of imported commodities was controlled in a way to stop them pushing Spanish commodities off the market. Nonetheless, limitations on foreign trade could not put a stop to Spain from succumbing to the growth which brought development all over European community to an unexpected end. Moreover, Spain lacked important energy reserves of its own, hence was even more exceedingly reliant than other European countries on low-priced oil imports, especially from the Middle East. In 1973, Spain was thus particularly hard hit when OPEC inflicted a huge rise in oil costs. The consequences on the Spanish economy were overwhelming. The balance of payments suffered immensely, inflation rose sharply, and unemployment rates began to increase - even though the government wrongly kept energy costs falsely low by financing them (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 140). Despite that, the economic impact was further exaggerated by the political circumstances subsequent to Franco’s demise. For approximately ten years the minds of Spanish political leaders were centered more or less entirely on the difficulties of putting up a democratic state. Spain’s economic issues were relegated to the background. For the moment, many employees were justifiably alarmed for their living conditions in the face of increasing oil prices and enthusiastically claimed salary increases to match. Later, Spain’s trade union leaders decided to balance their salary demands in the 1977, but salary increases kept to pushing price inflation for some years. As a result, in the early 1980’s Spain’s inflation rate ran constantly well over the standard for the European community. The inflation disparity was of specific implication since, after 1975; all the main political parties were persuaded that Spain must associate with the European Community. Doing so would, by description, entail free trade with other affiliate nations. Unless inflation rates were reduced to European Community levels, Spain’s commodities would not contend in the common market. In addition, when the socialists ascended to power in 1982 intent on joining the European Community, inflation was for that reason a key main concern for them. For that moment, the Spanish government response was to encourage a succession of accords with trade unions and employers, all of which set nationwide standards for wage increases devised to reduce inflation. The resulting salary control played a big role in taming Spain’s inflation. Nevertheless it was also the first of a number of agonizing economic adjustments for scores Spaniards. (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 140). The socialist government’s succeeding concern was to revamp the aged industries handed down by the Franco government, to give them an opportunity of contending within the European Community. Some efforts had previously been made to undertake this chore, but were irregular and weak. Consequently the Socialists had no choice but to embark on an immense programme of industrial reform. The programme entailed altering the structure of Spanish manufacturing industry at two echelons. First, the intent was to move its basis from obsolete industries to those with good potential prospects. Secondly, the government planned to build industries of a scale big enough to contend with their European correspondents (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 140). In addition, economic reforms therefore meant a controlled dilapidated of aged industries that were in decline not only in Spain but all over the industrialized world. The outcome was, shutting down of scores of, businesses. Healthy companies were merged into possibly profitable units and others were taken over. The survivors of the restructuring process were put through stringent measures devised to put them on a sound financial grip. Basically, that meant a considerable cutback in government costs, usually through job cuts. Furthermore, scores of workers were obliged to take premature retirement. What is more, their youthful coworkers were presented, no less than theoretically, retraining in new skills as groundwork for redeployment in the subsequent phase of re-industrialization. This strategy nonetheless proved difficult to execute than the former. For many, reforms implied long-standing joblessness. In general, the policies followed by the Socialists were extraordinarily successful. Despite Spain’s economy surviving accession into the European Community, it thrived. From 1985 to 1989 Spain’s Gross Domestic Product increase at a yearly rate of approximately 5%, the highest in European Community and, certainly, amongst the key developed nations (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 141). Besides, all over the European community the short-lived economic success of the late 1980s was trailed by the unfathomable financial crisis for six decades. Spain was predominantly battered. By the middle of the 1990s the share of Spain’s per person GDP to the European Union average had declined to approximately three quarters, hardly dissimilar from the level in 1975. The various causes for this financial setback included: (I) Escalation in government expenditure at the closing stages of the preceding decade; even though badly required, it was just too fast for the Spain’s economy to endure, mostly considering social welfare. (ii) Incomplete nature of economic reforms. (iii) The fact that economic growth centered a great deal in the services sector, and funded to a treacherous level by temporary foreign capital which may perhaps be - and was - pull out in case the global economic climate transformed (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 142). Works Cited Christopher Ross, Bill Richardson, Begoña Sangrador-Vegas. Contemporary Spain. Routledge, Oct 28, 2013. Print. Eamonn, Rodgers. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture. New York, N.Y: Taylor & Francis, 2002. Print. Faiella, Graham. Spain: A Primary Source Cultural Guide. New York, N.Y: Rosen Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Gibbons, John. Spanish Politics Today. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2000. Print. Gunther Richard, José Ramón Montero, and José Ignacio Wert. "The media and politics in Spain: From dictatorship to democracy." Democracy and the media: A comparative perspective (2000): 28-84. José María Magone.Contemporary Spanish Politics. Taylor & Francis, 2009.Print. Kohen, Elizabeth, and Marie L. Elias. Spain. New York: Benchmark Books, 2002. Print. Lior, Noa, and Tara Steele. Spain. New York: Crabtree Pub. Co, 2002. Print. Sebastian, Balfour. The Politics of Contemporary Spain. Psychology Press, 2005. Print. Read More