The Phases Through Which Spain Evolved in Its Transition from an Authoritarian Regime to a Democracy

The Phases Through Which Spain Evolved In Its Transition From An Authoritarian Regime To A Democracy

History has shown that democratization around the world has occurred in stages. According to Samuel P. Huntington, these stages can be broken into three waves, with the third wave being the current wave (Website). Huntington (1991) referred to three transitions types that took place during the third wave of democratization: 1Transformation, which occurred when the elites in power took the lead in transforming democracy, 2Replacement, which occurred when opposition groups took the lead in transforming democracy and 3 Transplacement, which occurred when democratization resulted largely from the joint action by government and opposition groups (Huntington, 1991, 121 Ð'- 127). Huntington argues that 35 countries were democratized during the third wave, but for the purpose of this essay, I will focus on one, Spain, where transformation was the transition type that occurred.

According to Huntington, transformation required the government to be stronger than the opposition and consequently occurred in well-established military regimes where governments clearly controlled the ultimate means of coercion vis-Ð" -vis the opposition and/or vis-Ð" -vis authoritarian systems that had been successful economically, such as Spain. He also identified five major phases through which third wave transformations usually evolved, and it is these that will provide the basis of my examination of how Spain's transition occurred (Huntington, 1991, 125 Ð'- 127).

Emergence Of Reformers

The first step in the transformation process was the emergence of a group of leaders or potential leaders within the authoritarian regime who believed that movement in the direction of democracy was desirable or necessary. While the reasons why people became democratic reformers varied from country to country, in the case of Spain, the reformers believed that democracy was the "right" form of government and that their country had evolved to the point where, like other developed and respected countries, it too should have a democratic political system (Huntington, 1991, 129). The reformers, and in general, the Spanish people, shared a desire for membership in the Common Market and in other Western European forums. According to Jose Pedro Perez Llorca, one of the founding fathers of the 1978 constitution, Spain was ready to wed political reality to socioeconomic reality (Arango, 1995, 115).

Franco's designated successor, King Carlos Juan de Bourbon y Bourbon was particularly instrumental in the reform process. While there was little to suggest that he would be the person to promote democracy before he took power (his carefully crafted and monitored speeches either said nothing or praised Franco), his actions after he took control of Spain in mid-1976 soon showed that he was a modern, progressive, intelligent man, devoted to democracy and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to bring it about: the relinquishment of his own power (Arango, 1995, 103). Juan Carlos could not ignore that Western Europe would only accept his monarchy if it brought a dramatic departure from the previous regime. Nor could he ignore the climate of expectation after Franco's death, and the fact that the hopes of all those who wanted a democratic transformation were placed in him (Carr, Aizpurua, 1981, 208).

Juan Carlos was aware of and more importantly in contact with various groups within the Spanish political elite that sought profound political change. The most influential of these groups was the Tacitos, who came into being in May 1973. Many of the Tacitos came from the higher ranks of the Francoist regime, among them career diplomats and members of the elite corps of the Spanish civil service. The group gradually became committed to the idea that the only viable future for Spain was as a democracy, and more precisely as a constitutional monarchy (Arango, 1995, 104).

In assessing how the emergence of reformers contributed to Spain's transition to democracy , it is important to note the role played by Adolfo Suarez, who was appointed by Juan Carlos as prime minister on July 30 1976. Suarez had spent his entire professional life serving the Franco regime and was not known by those surrounding him to have liberal persuasions (Arango, 1995, 107). The King, however, had come to know the liberal side of Adolfo Suarez. Juan Carlos had come into a contact with numerous liberalizing elites through his personal secretary Jacobo Cano, who was intimately associated with the Tacito's. During the last couple of months of Franco's life, Juan Carlos had asked a number of politicians and officials for their opinions on how the country could be best transformed and one of the most detailed and realistic appraisals came from Suarez. While many hoping for reform were surprised and sceptical at the appointment of Suarez, both he and the king fully embraced democracy and set out on a course that rejected continuismo (Arango, 1995, 108).

Acquiring Power

While democratic reformers may have existed within the authoritarian regime, it was also essential that they acquired power in that regime. On November 20, 1975, at 5:25 a.m the founder of the authoritarian regime in Spain, Francisco Franco died. When Franco died, the question was whether his regime would die with him, or would Francoism continue without Franco, as Fernandez de la Mora and many Francoists predicted? In a famous sentence Ð'- "All is tied up and well tied down" Ð'- Franco had expressed his support for continuity (Aizpurua, Carr, 1981, 207). On July 22, 1969, Franco had proclaimed that at his death, Juan Carlos would become the king of Spain, believing that he would be the best guarantee for the continuity of the institutions and spirit of Francoism (Aizpurua, Carr, 1981, 207).Indeed he had been carefully grooming him and had a close personal relationship with him for 25 years (Arango, 1995, 97) On November 22, 1975, Juan Carlos took the oath as king of Spain. It can only be assumed that Franco made a grave error of judgement in believing that Juan Carlos would be a faithful disciple of Francoism. As I have already explained, Juan Carlos was a reformer and with him at the helm, the democratic transition began.

It is important to note, however, that although Juan Carlos became Head of State,

it was still necessary that the position of head of government was controlled by a democratic reformer, . The difficulty in this was that while the prime minister would be responsible to the king, and not to the Cortes (the national legislative assembly