Society and Politics in Contemporary Spain

Course description

This course is designed to give an overview of fundamental issues in the study of Spanish and Catalan politics. Its core is the study of the nature and functioning of the Spanish democratic system installed since the mid-seventies, paying special attention to its political processes, institutions, actors, political culture and electoral behavior. The course also introduces the previous Spanish democratic experience (2nd Republic, 1931-1936), its collapse (Civil War, 1936-1939), the dictatorial rule under by Franco, and the Spanish transition to democracy (1975-1978) which has strongly influenced the current features of the Spanish and Catalan political systems.

Learning objectives

At the end of this course the students will be able:

1) to understand the development and working of the Spanish and Catalan political systems in the last decades within the context of the EU;

2) to comprehend the relationship between democracy and Spanish politics;

3) to become familiar with the key literature on Spanish, Catalan and European comparative politics.