Politics of Spain
Encyclopedia
The politics of Spain take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic
constitutional monarchy
, whereby the Monarch
is the Head of State
and the President of the Government
is the head of government
in a multi-party system
. Executive power
is vested in the government. Central legislative power is vested in the two chambers of parliament.
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 President of the Government
(equivalent to Prime Minister) responsible to the bicameral Cortes Generales
(Cortes) elected every 4 years. On 23 February 1981, in an event known as "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 and constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, 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. Spain also created new social laws and large scale infrastructural building, and programmes in education, health and work. Liberalization
policies were heavily contested by trade unions but largely implemented. The country was massively modernized in this period, becoming an economically developed, culturally shifted
, contemporary open society
.
In March 1996, José María Aznar
's People's Party
(PP) received more votes than any other party, winning almost half the seats in the Congress. Aznar moved to further liberalize the economy, with a program of privatization
, 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).
Prime Minister 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 had characterized his earlier administration. As Prime Minister, Aznar was a staunch supporter of transatlantic relations and the War on Terrorism
. For the March 2004 elections the PP 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 PSOE and its leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
. Rodríguez Zapatero was appointed Prime Minister after having secured the support of a few minor parties. He nominated the first Spanish government ever to have the same number of male and female ministers. In this period the Spanish economy continued expanding, while new social and cultural laws were passed, and a more pan-European way was adopted in foreign politics.
In the 2008 general elections, Prime Minister Zapatero and the PSOE got reelected by a plurality, short of a majority. He was elected Prime Minister April 11 by 169 votes to 158, with 23 abstaining. The Economic crisis of 2008 took a heavy toll on economy in the following months.
Art. 56 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that:
Art. 57 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that:
Art. 62 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that it is incumbent upon the King:
Art. 63 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that:
Executive power in Spain lies with the Council of Ministers
(Spanish Consejo de Ministros). It is headed by the President of the Government
(Prime Minister) who is nominated by the King, confirmed by a vote of the lower house of parliament and then appointed by the king. After a candidate has been nominated he must win a majority of the votes of the lower house, failing which, a second vote will be held where he only needs a plurality of votes. The Prime Minister designates the rest of the members of the Council who are then appointed by the king. He directs the activities of the government as a whole. The President of the Government can also designate various vice presidents (although it is not mandatory). There is also a Council of State that is the supreme consultative organ of the government.
, the Cortes Generales
(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.
There are two essential differences between the two houses. The first is by way of electoral practice. Both are elected on a provincial basis. The number of seats in Congress is allocated in proportion to population. However, this is only done after each province (with the exception of Ceuta
and Melilla
) has been given two members. The result of this is a slight over-representation for the smaller provinces. For example the smallest province, Soria
, with an electorate of 78,531, elected two members of congress (or one for every 39,265 voters) while Madrid
, the largest, with 4,458,540 voters, elected 35 members of congress (or 1 for every 127,387 voters). In the Senate the members are elected on a provincial basis. The electoral system used is different with proportional party closed lists being used for Congress and the Senate elected by partial bloc voting. Additionally some senators are designated by the Autonomous legislatures. The second difference is in legislative power. With few exceptions, every law is approved with the votes of Congress. The Senate can make changes or refuse laws but the Congress can ignore these amendments.
on March 9, 2008, after a divisive campaign dominated by a cooling economy
and concerns over immigration
but jolted by a last-minute killing by suspected Basque
separatists (ETA
).http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/09/spain.election.ap/index.html
s and magistrates and composed of different courts depending on The Jurisdictional Order and what is to be judged, the highest ranking court of the judicial structure in Spain is the Supreme Court
. The role of the judiciary is governed by the General Council of the Judicial Power
whose Chairperson is also the Chairperson of the Supreme Court. The Council is conformed by 12 judges and 8 jurists elected by the Cortes Generales with a three fifths supermajority. See also Audiencia Nacional.
(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 (Valencian Community
), 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.
. By 1985, 17 regions covering all of peninsular Spain, the Canaries and the Balearic Islands had passed a Charter of Autonomy. In 1979, the first autonomous elections were held in the Basque and Catalan regions, which have the strongest nationalist movements. 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 might eventually have full responsibility for health care and education, as well as other social programs. This process is limited by the exclusive powers of the state in article 149 of the Spanish Constitution.
All autonomous communities are ruled by a government elected by a unicameral legislature.
Spain is, at present, what is called a State of Autonomies, formally unitary but, in fact, functioning almost as a Federation
of Autonomous Communities
, each one with different powers (for instance, some have their own educational and health systems co-ordinated by the Central government, co-official language and particular cultural identity) and laws. There are some irregularities within this system, since power has been devolved from the centre to the periphery asymmetrically, with some autonomous governments (especially those dominated by nationalist parties) seeking a more federalist kind of relationship with Spain.
This system of asymmetrical devolution
has been described as coconstitutionalism
and has similarities to the devolution process adopted by the United Kingdom
since 1997.
At the same time, Spain's further integration into the European Union causes it to cede powers from the State to the Union's institutions.
Provincial Deputations are considered by law as Local Administrations and are regulated by the Regulating Act of the Bases of the Local regime of 1985.
, traffic enforcement, urban planning
and development, social services, municipal taxes and civil defence, and the same rules of membership and leadership.
Most Spanish municipalities are ruled in a parliamentary style, where citizens elect the municipal council, that acts as a sort of legislative body, that is responsible for electing the mayor who can appoint a board of governors out of councillors of his party or coalition as an executive. The only exception for this rule is in municipalities of under 50 inhabitants, which act as an open council, with a directly elected mayor and an assembly of neighbours as control and legislative body.
Membership of Municipal councils in Spain is chosen in municipal elections held every four years at the same time over Spain, and councillors are allotted using the D'Hondt method
for proportional representation, with the exception of municipalities of under 100 inhabitants where bloc voting
is used. The number of Councillors is determined by the population of the municipality, the smallest municipalities having 5 and Madrid
(the biggest) 55.
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 highly-powered government (with some degree of regional decentralization). Nationalist 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 Castilian-Spanish nation (for lack of better word, since they would simply call it 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 (especially Catalans and Basques) were also unable to break free from the Spanish state.
), an armed secessionist organization founded in 1959 in opposition to Franco and dedicated to promoting Basque independence through violent
means, though originally violence was not a part of their method. They consider themselves a guerrilla
organization and are considered internationally as a terrorist organisation. Although the Basque Autonomous government does not condone any kind of violence, their different approaches to the separatist movement are a source of tension between the Central and Basque governments.
Initially ETA targeted primarily Spanish security forces, military personnel and Spanish Government officials. As the security forces and prominent politicians improved their own security, ETA increasingly focused its attacks on the tourist seasons (scaring tourists was seen as a way of putting pressure on the government, given the sector's importance to the economy) and local government officials in the Basque Country. The group 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 during its campaign of terrorism.
On 17 May 2005, all the parties in the Congress of Deputies, except the PP, passed the Central Government's motion giving approval to the beginning of peace talks with ETA, without making political concessions and with the requirement that it give up its weapons. PSOE, CiU, ERC, PNV, IU-ICV, CC and the mixed group —BNG, CHA, EA and NB— supported it with a total of 192 votes, while the 147 PP parliamentarians objected. ETA declared a "permanent cease-fire" that came into force on March 24, 2006 and was broken by Barajas T4 International Airport Bombings on December 30, 2006. In the years leading up to the permanent cease-fire, the government had had more success in controlling ETA, due in part to increased security cooperation with French authorities.
Spain has also contended with a Marxist resistance group, commonly known as GRAPO. GRAPO (Revolutionary group of October the 1st) is an urban guerrilla group, founded in Vigo, Galicia; that seeks to overthrow the Spanish Government and establish a Marxist-Leninist 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 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. GRAPO is not capable of maintaining the degree of operational capability that they once enjoyed. Most members of the groups are either in jail or abroad.
Spain suffered a shocking terrorist attack, the March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks on its capital's commuter train network, killing 191 persons. 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 Government and media accused ETA for the bombing. As the facts about its organisation by Islamic fundamentalism were appearing many voters lashed out at the public media and Aznar's government, believing the two had colluded to deceive the public since the Spanish government's support of the war in Iraq might be blamed as the trigger for the attack, a war which a considerable number of Spaniards had opposed, and therefore, many Spaniards believed Aznar's government had tried to deceive the public because of the elections.
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 the nation represented a clear terrorist threat.
, 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
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, whereby the Monarch
Spanish monarchy
The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as The Crown and commonly referred to as the Spanish monarchy or Hispanic Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and an historic office of Spain...
is the Head of State
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
and the President of the Government
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
is the head of government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
in a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
. Executive power
Executive Power
Executive Power is Vince Flynn's fifth novel, and the fourth to feature Mitch Rapp, an American agent that works for the CIA as an operative for a covert counter terrorism unit called the "Orion Team."-Plot summary:...
is vested in the government. Central legislative power is vested in the two chambers of parliament.
Political developments
Parliamentary democracy was restored following the death of General FrancoFrancisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
in 1975, who had ruled since the end of the civil war
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in 1939. The 1978 constitution
Spanish Constitution of 1978
-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...
established Spain as a parliamentary monarchy, with the President of the Government
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
(equivalent to Prime Minister) responsible to the bicameral Cortes Generales
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
(Cortes) elected every 4 years. On 23 February 1981, in an event known as "23-F
23-F
23-F was an attempted coup d'état in Spain that began on 23 February 1981 and ended on the following day. It is also known as El Tejerazo from the name of its most visible figure, Antonio Tejero, who led the failed coup's most notable event: the bursting into the Spanish Congress of Deputies by a...
", 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 and constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to put down the bloodless coup attempt.
In October 1982, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), led by Felipe González Márquez
Felipe González
Felipe González Márquez is a Spanish socialist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. To date, he remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of Spain, after having served four successive mandates from 1982 to 1996.-Early life:Felipe was...
, 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. Spain also created new social laws and large scale infrastructural building, and programmes in education, health and work. Liberalization
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
policies were heavily contested by trade unions but largely implemented. The country was massively modernized in this period, becoming an economically developed, culturally shifted
Spanish society after the democratic transition
After the restoration of democracy in the late 1970s, the changes in everyday Spanish life were as radical as the political transformation. They are famously known as the La Movida...
, contemporary open society
Open society
The open society is a concept originally developed by philosopher Henri Bergson and then by Austrian and British philosopher Karl Popper. In open societies, government is purported to be responsive and tolerant, and political mechanisms are said to be transparent and flexible...
.
In March 1996, José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
's People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
(PP) received more votes than any other party, winning almost half the seats in the Congress. Aznar moved to further liberalize the economy, with a program of privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
, 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
Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
The Economic and Monetary Union is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of members of the European Union in three stages so as to allow them to adopt a single currency, the euro. As such, it is largely synonymous with the eurozone.All member states of the...
. During this period, Spain participated, along with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and other NATO allies, in military operations in the former Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. 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
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
forces in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
(IFOR
IFOR
The Implementation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour. Its task was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for...
, SFOR
SFOR
The Stabilisation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the previous force IFOR...
) and Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
(KFOR).
Prime Minister 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
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
building that had characterized his earlier administration. As Prime Minister, Aznar was a staunch supporter of transatlantic relations and the War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. For the March 2004 elections the PP named First Vice President Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey is a Spanish People's Party politician and is the Prime Minister-elect since 20 November 2011. He will be sworn into office in mid-December 2011....
to replace him as the People's Party candidate.
However, in the aftermath of the March 11 terrorist bomb attacks in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, the PP lost the 2004 elections to the PSOE and its leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
. Rodríguez Zapatero was appointed Prime Minister after having secured the support of a few minor parties. He nominated the first Spanish government ever to have the same number of male and female ministers. In this period the Spanish economy continued expanding, while new social and cultural laws were passed, and a more pan-European way was adopted in foreign politics.
In the 2008 general elections, Prime Minister Zapatero and the PSOE got reelected by a plurality, short of a majority. He was elected Prime Minister April 11 by 169 votes to 158, with 23 abstaining. The Economic crisis of 2008 took a heavy toll on economy in the following months.
The Crown
Article 1.3. of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that "the political form of the Spanish State is that of a Parliamentary Monarchy".Art. 56 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that:
- 1. The King is the Head of State and Supreme Commander in Chief of the armed forces, the symbol of its unity and permanence. He arbitrates and moderates the regular working of the institutions, assumes the highest representation of the Spanish State in international relations, especially with those nations belonging to the same historic community, and performs the functions expressly conferred on him by the Constitution and the law.
- 2. His title is King of Spain, and he may use the other titles appertaining to the Crown.
- 3. The person of the King is inviolable and shall not be held accountable. His acts shall always be countersigned in the manner established in Article 64. Without such countersignature they shall not be valid, except as provided under Article 65,2.
Art. 57 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that:
- 1. The Crown of Spain shall be inherited by the successors of H.M. Juan Carlos I de Borbon, the legitimate heir of the historic dynasty. Succession to the throne shall follow the regular order of primogeniture and representation, in the following order of precedence: the earlier shall precede the more distant; within the same degree, the male shall precede the female; and for the same sex, the older shall precede the younger.
Art. 62 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that it is incumbent upon the King:
- a) to sanction the laws and promulgate them;
- b) to summon and dissolve the Cortes Generales and to call elections;
- c) to call a referendum;
- d) to propose a candidate for President of the Government and, as the case may be, appoint him or remove him from office;
- e) to appoint and dismiss members of the Government;
- f) to issue the decrees agreed upon by the Council of Ministers, to confer civil and military employments and award honours and distinctions;
- g) to keep himself informed regarding affairs of State and, for this purpose, to preside over the meetings of the Council of Ministers whenever he deems opportune;
- h) to exercise supreme command of the Armed Forces;
- i) to exercise the right to grant pardons;
- j) to exercise the High Patronage of the Royal Academies.
Art. 63 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 lays down that:
- 1. The King accredits ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives. Foreign representatives in Spain are accredited to him.
- 2. It is incumbent on the King to express the State's assent to the entering into of international commitments through treaties.
- 3. It is incumbent on the King, after authorization by the Cortes Generales, to declare war and to make peace.
Executive power
Council of Ministers of Spain (9th Legislature)
The following is the list of members of the Cabinet of Spain formed after the 2008 general election....
(Spanish Consejo de Ministros). It is headed by the President of the Government
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
(Prime Minister) who is nominated by the King, confirmed by a vote of the lower house of parliament and then appointed by the king. After a candidate has been nominated he must win a majority of the votes of the lower house, failing which, a second vote will be held where he only needs a plurality of votes. The Prime Minister designates the rest of the members of the Council who are then appointed by the king. He directs the activities of the government as a whole. The President of the Government can also designate various vice presidents (although it is not mandatory). 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 legislatureLegislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, the Cortes Generales
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
(General Courts), which consists of two chambers
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
, the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) and the Senate
Spanish Senate
The Senate of Spain is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the . It is made up of 264 members: 208 elected by popular vote, and 56 appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time.The last election...
(Senado). The Congress and Senate serve concurrent terms that run for a maximum of four years.
There are two essential differences between the two houses. The first is by way of electoral practice. Both are elected on a provincial basis. The number of seats in Congress is allocated in proportion to population. However, this is only done after each province (with the exception of Ceuta
Ceuta (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Ceuta is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...
and Melilla
Melilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Melilla is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...
) has been given two members. The result of this is a slight over-representation for the smaller provinces. For example the smallest province, Soria
Soria (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Soria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...
, with an electorate of 78,531, elected two members of congress (or one for every 39,265 voters) while Madrid
Madrid (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Madrid is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It has the largest electorate of all the 52 districts. Madrid is the largest city...
, the largest, with 4,458,540 voters, elected 35 members of congress (or 1 for every 127,387 voters). In the Senate the members are elected on a provincial basis. The electoral system used is different with proportional party closed lists being used for Congress and the Senate elected by partial bloc voting. Additionally some senators are designated by the Autonomous legislatures. The second difference is in legislative power. With few exceptions, every law is approved with the votes of Congress. The Senate can make changes or refuse laws but the Congress can ignore these amendments.
Political parties and elections
Spaniards started voting in the Spanish general election, 2008Spanish general election, 2008
Legislative elections for the Spanish Cortes Generales were held on March 9, 2008. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain...
on March 9, 2008, after a divisive campaign dominated by a cooling economy
Economy of Spain
The economy of Spain is the twelfth-largest economy in the world, based on nominal GDP comparisons, and the fifth-largest in Europe. It is regarded as the world's 20th most developed country....
and concerns over immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
but jolted by a last-minute killing by suspected Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
separatists (ETA
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
).http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/09/spain.election.ap/index.html
Judiciary
The Spanish Judiciary is exercised by professional judgeJudge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s and magistrates and composed of different courts depending on The Jurisdictional Order and what is to be judged, the highest ranking court of the judicial structure in Spain is the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Spain
The Supreme Court of Spain is the highest court in Spain for all matters not pertaining to the Spanish Constitution. The court which meets in the Convent of the Salesas Reales in Madrid, consists of a president and an indeterminate number of magistrates appointed to the five chambers of the...
. The role of the judiciary is governed by the General Council of the Judicial Power
General Council of the Judicial Power of Spain
The General Council of the Judiciary is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it is established by the Spanish Constitution of 1978, article 122 and developed by the Organic Law 6/1985 of the Judiciary Power...
whose Chairperson is also the Chairperson of the Supreme Court. The Council is conformed by 12 judges and 8 jurists elected by the Cortes Generales with a three fifths supermajority. See also Audiencia Nacional.
Administrative divisions
Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communitiesAutonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
(comunidades autónomas, singular - comunidad autónoma); Andalucía (Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
), Aragón
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, Illes Balears (Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
), Canarias (Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
), Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalunya (Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
), Comunidad Valenciana (Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
), Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra (Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
) and País Vasco (Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
).
Note:
There are five places of sovereignty near Morocco: Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
and Melilla
Melilla
Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...
are administered as autonomous cities, with more powers than cities but fewer than autonomous communities; Islas Chafarinas
Islas Chafarinas
The Chafarinas Islands , also spelled Zafarin, Djaferin, Zafarani, is a Spanish archipelago. A group of three small islets located in the Alboran Sea off the coast of Morocco with an aggregate area of 0.525 km², 45 km to the east of Melilla and 3.3 km off the Moroccan town of Ra'su l-Ma'...
, Peñón de Alhucemas
Peñón de Alhucemas
Peñón de Alhucemas , or "Lavender Rock", is one of the Spanish plazas de soberanía just off the Moroccan coast in the Alboran Sea. It is also one of several Peñones, or rock-fortresses, on the coast of Northern Africa....
, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , in ancient times Badis or Bades, is a Spanish rock in North Africa off the Moroccan coast . It is part of several Peñones, or rock-fortresses on the coast of Northern Africa. Vélez de la Gomera is administered from Melilla...
are under direct Spanish administrations.
Regional
The 1978 constitution authorised the creation of regional autonomous governmentsAutonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
. By 1985, 17 regions covering all of peninsular Spain, the Canaries and the Balearic Islands had passed a Charter of Autonomy. In 1979, the first autonomous elections were held in the Basque and Catalan regions, which have the strongest nationalist movements. Since then, autonomous governments have been created in the remainder of the 17 regions.
The central government continues to devolve powers
Devolution
Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...
to the regional governments, which might eventually have full responsibility for health care and education, as well as other social programs. This process is limited by the exclusive powers of the state in article 149 of the Spanish Constitution.
All autonomous communities are ruled by a government elected by a unicameral legislature.
Spain is, at present, what is called a State of Autonomies, formally unitary but, in fact, functioning almost as a Federation
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
of Autonomous Communities
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
, each one with different powers (for instance, some have their own educational and health systems co-ordinated by the Central government, co-official language and particular cultural identity) and laws. There are some irregularities within this system, since power has been devolved from the centre to the periphery asymmetrically, with some autonomous governments (especially those dominated by nationalist parties) seeking a more federalist kind of relationship with Spain.
This system of asymmetrical devolution
Devolution
Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...
has been described as coconstitutionalism
Coconstitutionalism
Coconstitutionalism is where two institutional cultures exist in a complex semi-autonomous relationship to each other. The model of asymmetrical devolution that has emerged in democratic Spain has been called "coconstitutional" in that it is neither a federal nor a unitary model of government:...
and has similarities to the devolution process adopted by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
since 1997.
At the same time, Spain's further integration into the European Union causes it to cede powers from the State to the Union's institutions.
Provincial
In the communities with more than one province the government is held by the diputación provincial (literally Provincial Deputation). With the creation of Autonomous Communities, deputations have lost much of their power except for those single-province communities, where deputations have been absorbed by the Autonomous power, and in the Basque Autonomous Community where the power of deputations remains very strong. The members of provincial deputations are indirectly elected by citizens according to the results of municipal elections, and all of their members must be councillors of a town or city in the province, except in the Basque Provinces where direct elections take place. Some Spanish politicians have called for the abolition of provincial deputations.Provincial Deputations are considered by law as Local Administrations and are regulated by the Regulating Act of the Bases of the Local regime of 1985.
Municipal
Spanish municipal administration is highly homogeneous, most of the municipalities having the same powers, such as municipal policeMunicipal police
.Municipal police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government, including the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive pay from the city budget, and usually have fewer rights than the "state paid" police...
, traffic enforcement, urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
and development, social services, municipal taxes and civil defence, and the same rules of membership and leadership.
Most Spanish municipalities are ruled in a parliamentary style, where citizens elect the municipal council, that acts as a sort of legislative body, that is responsible for electing the mayor who can appoint a board of governors out of councillors of his party or coalition as an executive. The only exception for this rule is in municipalities of under 50 inhabitants, which act as an open council, with a directly elected mayor and an assembly of neighbours as control and legislative body.
Membership of Municipal councils in Spain is chosen in municipal elections held every four years at the same time over Spain, and councillors are allotted using the D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
for proportional representation, with the exception of municipalities of under 100 inhabitants where bloc voting
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
is used. The number of Councillors is determined by the population of the municipality, the smallest municipalities having 5 and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
(the biggest) 55.
The nationality debate
In order to understand the political forces and debates in Spain two dimensions have to be considered: 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 SpainAutonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
is the administrative realization of this constitutional balancing act.
Historically, parties advocating the Nation State claim that there is only one nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
and favour a state
Form of government
A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government".-Empirical and conceptual problems:...
with a highly-powered government (with some degree of regional decentralization). Nationalist 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
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
formed by four 'nations', namely the Catalan nation
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, the Basque nation
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
, the Galician nation and what might be called the Castilian-Spanish nation (for lack of better word, since they would simply call it Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). Some of these parties often mention Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
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
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
.
The current situation can be understood as the sum of two historical failures: 1) the Nation State
Nation-state
The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
parties were unable to build a unified Nation State
Nation-state
The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
such as France, the model that the political and territorial organization of Spain has followed, while 2) the "national resistance" movements (especially Catalans and Basques) were also unable to break free from the Spanish state.
ETA & GRAPO
The Government of Spain has been involved in a long-running campaign against Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETAETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
), an armed secessionist organization founded in 1959 in opposition to Franco and dedicated to promoting Basque independence through violent
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
means, though originally violence was not a part of their method. They consider themselves a guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
organization and are considered internationally as a terrorist organisation. Although the Basque Autonomous government does not condone any kind of violence, their different approaches to the separatist movement are a source of tension between the Central and Basque governments.
Initially ETA targeted primarily Spanish security forces, military personnel and Spanish Government officials. As the security forces and prominent politicians improved their own security, ETA increasingly focused its attacks on the tourist seasons (scaring tourists was seen as a way of putting pressure on the government, given the sector's importance to the economy) and local government officials in the Basque Country. The group 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
Armored car (VIP)
A civilian armored car is a security vehicle which made by replacing the windows of a standard vehicle with bulletproof glass and inserting layers of armor plate into the body panels...
was destroyed but he was unhurt. The Spanish Government attributes over 800 deaths to ETA during its campaign of terrorism.
On 17 May 2005, all the parties in the Congress of Deputies, except the PP, passed the Central Government's motion giving approval to the beginning of peace talks with ETA, without making political concessions and with the requirement that it give up its weapons. PSOE, CiU, ERC, PNV, IU-ICV, CC and the mixed group —BNG, CHA, EA and NB— supported it with a total of 192 votes, while the 147 PP parliamentarians objected. ETA declared a "permanent cease-fire" that came into force on March 24, 2006 and was broken by Barajas T4 International Airport Bombings on December 30, 2006. In the years leading up to the permanent cease-fire, the government had had more success in controlling ETA, due in part to increased security cooperation with French authorities.
Spain has also contended with a Marxist resistance group, commonly known as GRAPO. GRAPO (Revolutionary group of October the 1st) is an urban guerrilla group, founded in Vigo, Galicia; that seeks to overthrow the Spanish Government and establish a Marxist-Leninist 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 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. GRAPO is not capable of maintaining the degree of operational capability that they once enjoyed. Most members of the groups are either in jail or abroad.
Armed Islamic fundamentalism in Spain
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 191 persons. 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 Government and media accused ETA for the bombing. As the facts about its organisation by Islamic fundamentalism were appearing many voters lashed out at the public media and Aznar's government, believing the two had colluded to deceive the public since the Spanish government's support of the war in Iraq might be blamed as the trigger for the attack, a war which a considerable number of Spaniards had opposed, and therefore, many Spaniards believed Aznar's government had tried to deceive the public because of the elections.
One of the first moves of Prime Minister Zapatero was to pull all Spanish troops out of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, but at the same time he increased the amount of soldiers in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, believing that the nation represented a clear terrorist threat.
Political pressure groups
- Business and landowning interests (CEOE, CEPYME);
- Free labour unions (authorised in April 1977, which meant the legalisation of previous clandestine unions and the creation of new ones). The most powerful unions are the Workers' CommissionsWorkers' CommissionsThe Workers' Commissions since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores , with the syndicalist Confederación General del Trabajo ...
or CC.OO. and the Socialist General Union of Workers or UGTUnión General de TrabajadoresThe Unión General de Trabajadores is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party .-History:...
. There are many others, in which workers unionise 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 other religious organisations (such as Opus DeiOpus DeiOpus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
) campaign to influence governments' policies. - Armed rebellion: Basque Country and Liberty or ETAETAETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
and the First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Group or GRAPO use violence to oppose the government. They are considered terrorists by the state and most of the population.
International organization participation
Spain is a member of AfDh, AsDB, Australia GroupAustralia Group
The Australia Group is an informal group of countries established in 1985 to help member countries to identify those of their exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons .The group, initially consisting of 15 members, held its first...
, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
, ICC
International Chamber of Commerce
The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise....
, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
(observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...
, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, Zangger Committee
Zangger Committee
The Zangger Committee, also known as the Nuclear Exporters Committee, sprang from Article III.2 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons which entered into force on March 5, 1970...
Further reading
- "Consumo político y cosmopolitismo. Un estudio de participación política postconvencional en España." ("Political Consumerism and Cosmopolitanism. A Study of Post-Conventional Political Participation in Spain."), Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, July-September 2011. Issue 135. Pages 89-106. Available on EBSCOhost Academic Search Complete