With a focus predominantly on the two governments of José Maria Aznar between 1996 and 2004, and the José Luis Zapatero government after 2004, this book provides an introduction for students of Spain's history and its contemporary politics.
The Politics of Contemporary Spain charts the trajectory of Spanish politics since the transition to democracy through to the present day, including the aftermath of the Madrid bombings.
An introductory textbook on contemporary Spanish politics, this book shows how Spain made a smooth transition from authoritarian to democratic rule, each chapter dealing with a different aspect of this process. The book goes on to analyse the consequences of the socialist administration of Zapatero.
"Oxford Handbooks offer authoritative and up-to-date surveys of original research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned essays from leading figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates, as well as a foundation for future research. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences"--
Contemporary Spanish Politics gives fresh insight into the formal and informal workings of this dynamic southern European democracy. It thoroughly discusses the history, politics, institutions, parties, economy and foreign policy of Spain at an introductory level ideal for an undergraduate audience. Each chapter provides a research-based overview of the studied topic which can then be used as the basis for further research by students. The key themes of the book are: recent history of Spain after Franco's death the political culture of the country the institutional framework foreign policy including the reaction to the global anti-terrorist coalition the policy making process and the system of interest intermediation the party system and electoral process the dynamics of regional politics (emphasizing Catalan, Basque and Galician nationalism) the political economy the external relations of the country within and towards the European Union, the Mediterranean and Latin America.
This book comprises various chapters which explore a variety of topics related to the manner in which ideological and epistemological changes in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries shaped the Spanish language, literature, and film, among other forms of expression, in both Spain and Latin America, and how these media served the purpose of spreading ideas and demands. There are articles on ideological representations of linguistic differences and sameness; linguistic changes associated with loan words and the ideas they bring in modifying our communicative landscape; the role of the Catholic religion on the construction of our dictionary; analysis of some political discourses, ideologies and social imaginaries; new visions of old literature (a return to the parody in the Middle Ages to analyze its moderness) and postmodern narrative; discussions on contemporary Spanish poetry and Central American literature; a new return to the liberation philosophy by analyzing Ellacuría´s work; and several studies about concepts such as capitalism, patriarchy, identity, masculinity, homosexuality, globalization, and the Resistence in several forms of expression.
Designed to evaluate the paradigmatic view of the Spanish transition as an ideal model for political and social change, this new and innovative volume appraises Spain's movement to democracy from a variety of important perspectives.
The Latin American Literary Boom was marked by complex novels steeped in magical realism and questions of nationalism, often with themes of surreal violence. In recent years, however, those revolutionary projects of the sixties and seventies have given way to quite a different narrative vision and ideology. Dubbed the new sentimentalism, this trend is now keenly elucidated in Love and Politics in the Contemporary Spanish American Novel. Offering a rich account of the rise of this new mode, as well as its political and cultural implications, Aníbal González delivers a close reading of novels by Miguel Barnet, Elena Poniatowska, Isabel Allende, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Gabriel García Márquez, Antonio Skármeta, Luis Rafael Sánchez, and others. González proposes that new sentimental novels are inspired principally by a desire to heal the division, rancor, and fear produced by decades of social and political upheaval. Valuing pop culture above the avant-garde, such works also tend to celebrate agape—the love of one's neighbor—while denouncing the negative effects of passion (eros). Illuminating these and other aspects of post-Boom prose, Love and Politics in the Contemporary Spanish American Novel takes a fresh look at contemporary works.
In this important new introductory textbook, José Magone provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to contemporary European politics. The unification of the European continent since the Fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the collapse of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe has changed the nature of European politics. This book seeks to address the new European politics that emerged out of this coming together of West and East. Utilizing a pan-European comparative approach the book: covers key topics, with chapters on the history, theory, institutions, parties and party systems, interest groups, systems of interest intermediation and civil society, the impact of European public policy and the emergence of a European common and foreign policy provides detailed comparisons of the national political systems across Europe, including Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans contextualises national politics in the growing importance of European integration examines the European Union multi-level governance system approach, highlighting relationships and interactions between the global, supranational, national, regional and local levels analyses the change from modern politics, in which the nation-state was still in command of domestic politics and its own borders, to postmodern politics in which de-territorialisation , de-nationalisation and internationalisation processes have transformed the national politics of European states facilitates learning through a wide range of pedagogical features, including chapter summaries, guides to further reading, questions for revision and extensive use of maps, figures, case studies and tables. Richly illustrated throughout, this work is an indispensable resource for all students and academics of European politics.
Across Europe and beyond, economic woes in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 unleashed fundamental changes in politics, with new parties emerging and populism surging.