Transition to Democracy

Transition to Democracy

Spain's transition from a dictatorship to a democracy is perhaps one of the most fascinating and studied topics in all of history. Historians have long debated on the exact factors that caused the country, scarred by civil war and political instability, to become a peaceful democracy with changes in every dimension of life, and have attempted to discern which of these factors were the most important in influencing Spain's transition. While there are undoubtedly certain factors that helped to facilitate change, such as fear of another catastrophic civil war and a desire to better assimilate into Europe, the transition to democracy would not have been possible were it not for the key compromises that political elites agreed upon during the first years of the transition, compromises that would shape later developments and cause a smoother transition. These key compromises were made possible through the efforts of Francisco Franco's successor, King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, and the leaders of the many Spanish Political Parties. Without these elite politicians hard work and resiliency, Spain's transition to a democracy would not have been possible.

The Spanish transition to democracy began with the death of former dictator Francisco Franco, and at that point any change in government was possible. Juan Carlos came into power as Franco's hand-picked successor and essentially had the most power in dictating which political direction Spain would go in. Naturally, there was fear of an anticipated change in government thanks to the chaos of the Civil War that scarred Spain merely decades ago. As Historian Aguilar states, "fear was present throughout the transition largely because of the traumatic memory of the Civil War" (Aguilar p.94). Fortunately, this period of fear and uncertainty did not last long because Carlos had plans for democracy but faced the challenge of having to change the system within the system itself, meaning that he needed the support of his opposition. In other words, he needed to compromise with democratic opponents. Carlos entrusted this daunting task to his hand-picked prime minister, Adolfo Suarez, and that turned out to be the most important decision in Carlos' reign.

Of all the political agreements and compromises that took place during the Spanish transition, the one that jumpstarted the entire process was the Law for Political Reform, as proposed by Suarez. However, in order for this reform to pass, the Spanish Parliament had to vote on it and essentially compromise its own legislative structure that had been in place for decades, resulting in a seemingly bleak situation. However, Suarez managed to convince Parliament to make this compromise for the good of the country and for the dream of democracy, and thanks to his persuasion and persistence, parliament agreed on the Law for Political Reform. This compromise was one of the first and most important political agreements in Spain's transition to democracy, as it did away with the old parliament and created a bicameral legislature, consisting of a congress and a senate based on majority voting. This compromise shaped later developments by allowing, for the first time, a system in which other political parties could come into power through voting as opposed to violence and bloodshed, and that was undoubtedly a key force in influencing the result of Spain's transition to a democracy.

While Carlos and Suarez had made significant progress in Spain's political reform, they still faced opposition from staunch supporters of Franco's old regime and from radicals. In order to gain some support from these opposition groups, Suarez compromised. He helped free up to 400 hundred political prisoners, he helped get rid of a disruptive Francoist secret police, and he gave Spanish workers the right to strike and unionize. However, the biggest decision he faced was whether to legalize the Communist Party of Spain as he knew that the Spanish high ranked military officials would not comply, and could possibly resort to violence at the prospect of the legalization of the Communist Party due to strained relations going back to the Civil War. Even Aguilar admitted, "persuading the armed forced to accept the democratic process would be difficult" (Aguilar p.107). However, Suarez also knew that the Communist Party and those affiliated with it would not vote during elections if the communist party was not legalized, which would cause even more political tension. Once again, in order to preserve the dream of democracy, Suarez had to compromise. He forged relationships with military officials and teamed up with a liberal group within the military, giving certain people higher positions and responsibilities, and then legalized the communist party. However, as a whole, the military was still not happy, but at the very least, Suarez's attempts to forge better relations with the military along with Carlos' already strong relations with high ranked military officials prevented any kind of violent protest, and the dream of democracy continued progress. Not only that, but as a result of Suarez's careful compromises, his political party, The Union of the Democratic Center (UCD), won enough support to win the election of 1977 with "national reconciliation as one of their most important goals" (Edles p.44). This was a significant victory in Spain's transition to democracy as it showed that the country had come a long way since the end of Franco's regime, and it would not have happened were it not for compromises by Suarez, Parliament, Military Officials, and Political leaders.

After the election of 1977, the UCD was in power and Suarez was the party's leader, but he still faced numerous problems, a major one being the economy. Suarez knew this was a national problem but could not alleviate it himself or even with his party; he needed to meet with the other parties and