Confronting the Dictatorship: Spain’s Political Revival of the Past

Spain’s democratic transition has served as a model of transition for many other countries of the third wave of democratization. However, despite the remarkable features of peacefulness and rapidity of transforming from an authoritarian to a democratic state, the country abstained from a rupture with its old regime and from measures of transitional justice. In the center of Spain’s politics of continuity was the “Pact of Forgetting“ or pact of silence, an informal agreement amongst political parties in 1976 to silence the past of the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship, in order to overcome historical cleavages and facilitate democratization. Nevertheless, since the 1990s, the pact of silence has been broken on several occasions by left political parties and increasingly come under pressure by civil society’s demands for justice. The 2000s were defined by two trends: an acceleration of left and societal demands for a recovery of historical memory and justice measures on the one...Show moreSpain’s democratic transition has served as a model of transition for many other countries of the third wave of democratization. However, despite the remarkable features of peacefulness and rapidity of transforming from an authoritarian to a democratic state, the country abstained from a rupture with its old regime and from measures of transitional justice. In the center of Spain’s politics of continuity was the “Pact of Forgetting“ or pact of silence, an informal agreement amongst political parties in 1976 to silence the past of the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship, in order to overcome historical cleavages and facilitate democratization. Nevertheless, since the 1990s, the pact of silence has been broken on several occasions by left political parties and increasingly come under pressure by civil society’s demands for justice. The 2000s were defined by two trends: an acceleration of left and societal demands for a recovery of historical memory and justice measures on the one hand, and conservative parties’ resistance in dealing with Spain’s past on the other hand. This thesis will examine the reasons for the disintegration of the pact of silence, with a particular focus on the “memory war” between left and right parties.Show less

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Confronting the Dictatorship: Spain’s Political Revival of the Past