Focusing on the processes of political socialisation and democratisation that took place in Spain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book brings together specialists who propose the need to rethink the contemporary history of democracy in Spain to build a new narrative.
To do so, the authors go down to the local level, where they are able to trace a political culture that forged the foundations of a process of political "modernization" much more complex than what conventional historiography has conveyed, even though it was not always transferred institutionally to the national level. The idea of a rural Spain that was backward, apolitical, violent and unprepared for democracy gives way to a more interesting history which, while recognising the peculiarities of the country and the important limitations to democracy, shows examples that could help build a new narrative closer to those of other neighbouring countries.
Aimed at contemporary historians interested in Spain and Europe, the book also addresses the debates faced by other social scientists on the concept of democracy. This dialogue between history, sociology and political science is particularly present in a special final chapter featuring a discussion of democracy and its application to Spanish history.
ntroduction: The (Not So) Exceptional History of Democracy in Contemporary Spain
Antonio Herrera and Francisco Acosta
Part 1: Rethinking Democratization in Spain from Local Perspective
1. Municipalism and Democratization in Modern Spanish History
Pamela Radcliff
2. Following in the Tracks of Democracy to Reinterpret the History of the Twentieth Century in Spain
Antonio Herrera and John Markoff
Part 2: Social Mobilisation and Democracy in Southern Spain
3. Democracy and Political Action in Southern Spain, 1848-1874
Guy Thomson
4. Democracy and Social Protest in Rural Andalusia in the Nineteenth Century: Notes on a Process of Political Modernization
Francisco Acosta Ramírez
5. Republican Democracy in the Southern Periphery of Spain: The Province of Cordoba (1885-1919)
Ángel Duarte Montserrat
Part 3: Municipalism, Rural World and Democracy Outside Spain
6. The Projection of Spanish Liberalism Overseas: Pueblos de Indios and Citizenship in Mexico and Peru
Claudia Guarisco
7. Modernisation and Democratisation in Mediterranean Countries
Luigi Musella
8. Republican Political Mobilisation of the Working Classes in Southern Portugal: The District of Évora Between 1908 and 1915
Jesús Ángel Redondo Cardeñoso
Special Epilogue
9. The History of Spanish Democracy Under Debate
Robert Fishman, Eduardo Posada-Carbó, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, Joe Foweraker, Florencia Peyrou, and Salvador Cruz
