Politics of Spain
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Politics of Spain takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the President of the Government is the head of government and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
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Political developments
Parliamentary democracy was restored following the death of General Franco in 1975, who had ruled since the end of the civil war in 1939. The 1978 constitution established Spain as a parliamentary monarchy, with the Prime Minister responsible to the bicameral Cortes Generales (Cortes) elected every 4 years. On 23 February 1981, in an event known as the "23-F", rebel elements among the security forces seized the Cortes and tried to impose a military-backed government. However, the great majority of the military forces remained loyal to King Juan Carlos, who used his personal authority to put down the bloodless coup attempt.
In October 1982, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), led by Felipe González Márquez, swept both the Congress of Deputies and Senate, winning an absolute majority. González and the PSOE ruled for the next 13 years. During that period, Spain joined NATO and the European Community.
In March 1996, José María Aznar's People's Party (PP) was the most voted for party, winning almost half the seats in the Congress. Aznar moved to liberalize the economy, with a program of privatizations, labor market reform, and measures designed to increase competition in selected markets, principally telecommunications. During Aznar's first term, Spain qualified for the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union. During this period, Spain participated, along with the United States and other NATO allies, in military operations in the former Yugoslavia. Spanish planes took part in the air war against Serbia in 1999 and Spanish armed forces and police personnel are included in the international peacekeeping forces in Bosnia (IFOR, SFOR) and Kosovo (KFOR).
President Aznar and the PP won reelection in March 2000, obtaining absolute majorities in both houses of parliament. This mandate allowed Aznar to form a government unencumbered by the coalition building that characterized his earlier administration. Aznar is a staunch supporter of transatlantic relations and the War on Terrorism. For the March 2004 elections Aznar named First Vice President Mariano Rajoy to replace him as the People's Party candidate.
However, in the aftermath of the March 11 terrorist bomb attacks in Madrid, the PP lost the 2004 elections to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and its leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Rodríquez Zapatero was elected prime minister with the votes of PSOE and a few minor parties. He selected the first Spanish government ever to have the same number of male and female ministers.
Spanish Parliament
The Spanish Parliament is called Cortes Generales and is a bicameral parliament consisting of the Congress of Deputies, the Lower House (Spanish Cámara Baja) and the Senate, the Upper House (Spanish Cámara Alta).
Local government
The 1978 constitution authorized the creation of regional autonomous governments. By 1985, 17 nationalities and regions covering all of peninsular Spain, the Canaries and the Balearic Islands had negotiated territorial constitutions with the central government. In 1979, the first autonomous elections were held in the Basque and Catalan regions, which have the strongest local traditions by virtue of their history and separate languages. Since then, autonomous governments have been created in the remainder of the 17 regions. The central government continues to devolve powers to the regional governments, which will eventually have full responsibility for health care and education, as well as other social programs.
The nationality debate
In order to understand the political forces and debates in Spain we have to consider two dimensions: the Right vs. Left dimension and the Nation State vs. Plurinational State dimension. The political parties' agendas and the individual citizens' opinions can only be understood when looked at on both dimensions. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Spain states that 1) it is a Nation and 2) that it is formed by Nationalities and Regions. This statement is a contradiction (since Nationality and Nation essentially mean the same thing in political theory), but it was an agreement that struck a balance between the political parties advocating the nation state and those advocating the plurinational state. The territorial organization of Spain into Autonomous Communities of Spain is the administrative realization of this constitutional balancing act.
Historically, parties advocating the Nation State claim that there is only one Nation and favour a state with a centralized government (with some degree of regional decentralization). Catalan, Basque and Galician political parties claim to represent their respective nations, different from the Spanish nation. These political parties share the belief that the Kingdom of Spain is a state formed by four nations, namely the Catalan nation, the Basque nation, the Galician nation and what might be called the Castillian-Spanish nation (for lack of better word, since they would call it simply Spain). Some of these parties often mention Switzerland as a model of Plurinational State shared by German, French, and Italian nationalities, while others advocate independence. Notice that these nations/nationalities are related to, but different from the current administrative borders of the Autonomous Communities of Spain.
The current situation can be understood as the sum of two historical failures: 1) the Nation State parties were unable to build a unified Nation State such as France, the model that the political and territorial organization of Spain has followed, while 2) the "national resistance" movements (specially Catalans and Basques) were also unable to break free from the Spanish state.
Terrorism
The Government of Spain is involved in a long-running campaign against Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), a terrorist organization founded in 1959 and dedicated to promoting Basque independence. Initially ETA targeted primarily Spanish security forces, military personnel and Spanish Government officials. As the security forces and prominent politicians have improved their own security, ETA has increasingly been involved in killings of civilians, focused its attacks on the tourist seasons and attacked local government officials in the Basque Country. The group has carried out numerous bombings against Spanish Government facilities and economic targets, including a car bomb assassination attempt on then-opposition leader Aznar in 1995, in which his armored car was destroyed but he was unhurt. The Spanish Government attributes over 800 deaths to ETA terrorism since its campaign of violence began. In recent years, the government has had more success in controlling ETA, due in part to increased security cooperation with French authorities.
In November 1999, ETA ended a cease-fire it declared in September 1998. Since that time, ETA has conducted a campaign of violence and has been blamed for the deaths of some 46 Spanish citizens and officials. Each attack has been followed by massive anti-ETA demonstrations around the country, clearly demonstrating that the majority of Spaniards, including the majority of Spain's Basque populace, have no tolerance for continued ETA violence. The government continues to pursue a vigorous counterterrorist policy.
Spain also contends with a resistance group, commonly known as GRAPO. GRAPO is an urban terrorist group that seeks to overthrow the Spanish Government and establish a Marxist state. It opposes Spanish participation in NATO and U.S. presence in Spain and has a long history of assassinations, bombings, bank robberies and kidnappings mostly against Spanish interests during the 1970s and 1980s.
In a June 2000 communiqué following the explosions of two small devices in Barcelona, GRAPO claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks throughout Spain during the past year. These attacks included two failed armored car robberies, one in which two security officers died, and four bombings of political party offices during the 1999-2000 election campaign. In 2002, Spanish authorities were successful in hampering the organization's activities through sweeping arrests, including some of the group's leadership.
Neither ETA nor GRAPO is capable of maintaining the degree of operational capability that they once enjoyed. Most members of the groups are either in jail or abroad. ETA in particular remains a serious threat but one that must be kept in perspective. Just as Spain has largely conformed to European norms in political and economic terms a quarter of a century after the death of Franco, so too has it progressed in the area of the safety of its citizens. The overall level of terrorist activity is considerably less than in the past and the trend appears to be downward.
Al Qaeda has been known to operate cells in Spain, both logistically to support operations in other countries and with the potential to mount attacks within Spain itself. Spanish investigative services and the judicial system have aggressively sought to arrest and prosecute their members, with the most notable raid occurring in Barcelona in January 2003. In that effort, Spanish authorities arrested 16 suspected terrorists and seized explosives and other chemicals. Spain also actively cooperates with foreign governments to diminish the transnational terrorist threat.
Spain suffered a shocking terrorist attack, the March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks on its capital's commuter train network, killing 200. Al-Qaeda has been blamed for this attack. Some have attributed the fall of the Aznar government to this attack, which took place just four days before the 2004 elections. At first the public believed ETA was responsible for the bombing. When they learned Al-Qaeda was the true culprit, many voters lashed out at the media and Aznar's government, believing the two had colluded to deceive the public.
One of the first moves of Prime Minister Zapatero was to pull all Spanish troops out of Iraq, but at the same time he increased the amount of soldiers in Afghanistan, believing that nation represented a clear terrorist threat.
Executive branch
The monarch is hereditary, following the rule of Castilian Siete Partidas: the elder son is preferred to the elder daughter. The president of the government (prime minister) is proposed by the monarch and elected by the National Assembly following legislative elections. Vice presidents are appointed by the monarch on proposal of the president. The President of the Government heads and designates the Council of Ministers (Spanish Consejo de Ministros). There is also a Council of State that is the supreme consultative organ of the government.
Legislative branch
On the national level, Spain directly elects a legislature, the Cortes Generales (literally: General Courts), which consists of two chambers, the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) and the Senate (Senado). The Congress and Senate serve concurrent terms that run for a maximum of four years.
Political parties and elections
- Election results include names of political parties. See for additional information about parties the List of political parties in Spain. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Spain.
- Main article: Spanish legislative election, 2004
| Parties and alliances | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) | 11,026,163 | 43.3 | 164 |
| People's Party (Partido Popular) | 9,763,144 | 38.3 | 148 |
| United Left (Izquierda Unida) | 1,359,190 | 5.3 | 2 |
ICV-EUA
| 2 | ||
Entesa
| 1 | ||
Convergence and Unity (Convergència i Unió)
| 835,471 | 3.3 | 10 |
| Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) | 652,196 | 2.5 | 8 |
| Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco/Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea) | 420,980 | 1.6 | 7 |
| Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria) | 235,221 | 0.9 | 3 |
Galician Nationalist Bloc (Bloque Nacionalista Galego)
| 208,688 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Andalucista Party (Partido Andalucista) | 181,868 | 0.7 | - |
| Aragonese Council (Chunta Aragonesista) | 94,252 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna) | 80,905 | 0.3 | 1 |
Navarra Yes (Nafarroa Bai}
| 61,045 | 0.2 | 1 |
| Total (turnout %) | 350 | ||
| Source: El País Online | |||
| Parties and alliances | Seats |
|---|---|
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) | 81 |
Entesa Catalana de Progrés
| 12 |
| People's Party (Partido Popular) | 102 |
Convergence and Unity (Convergència i Unió)
| 4 |
| Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco/Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea) | 4 |
| Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria) | 3 |
| Members appointed by the regional legislatures | 51 |
| Total (turnout %) | 259 |
| Source: El País Online | |
Judiciary
The Spanish Judiciary is exercised by professional judges and Magistrates and composed of different courts dependinding on The Jurisdictional Order and what is to be Judged, the highets ranking court wich ends the judiciary structure in Spain is the Supreme Court. The role of the judiciary is governed by the General Council of the Judiciary Power whose Chaiperson is also the chairperson of the Supreme Court. See also Audiencia Nacional.
Political pressure groups
- Business and landowning interests;
- Free labor unions (authorized in April 1977, which meant the legalisation of previous clandestine unions and the creation of new ones). The most powerful unions are the Workers' Commissions or CC.OO. and the Socialist General Union of Workers or UGT. There are many others, in which workers unionize according to their trade or their ideology: Workers Syndical Union or USO, Solidarity of Basque Workers (ELA, Basque), Galician Inter-Unions Confederation (CIG, Galician).
- Catholic Church and Opus Dei campaign to influence governments' policies.
- Basque Fatherland and Liberty or ETA and the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group or GRAPO use terrorism to oppose the government.
Administrative divisions
Spain is divided in 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas, singular - comunidad autónoma); Andalucía (Andalusia), Aragón, Asturias, Illes Balears (Balearic Islands), Canarias (Canary Islands), Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalunya (Catalonia), Comunidad Valenciana (Valencia), Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra (Navarre) and País Vasco (Basque Country).
Note:
There are five places of sovereignty near Morocco: Ceuta and Melilla are administered as autonomous cities, with more powers than cities but fewer than autonomous communities; Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera are under direct Spanish administrations.
International organization participation
Spain is member of AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, Zangger Committee
