Since the death of General Franco in 1975, Spain has emerged from relative isolation to play an active role in international affairs. Membership of the European Union and Nato have been keys to Spain »s new prominence, although the country has also tried to build on its traditional ‘special relationships’ with Latin America and the Arab world. This is the first thorough study of democratic Spain »s re-emergence on the international scene.
By focusing on the relationship between external relations and domestic policy the book makes an important contribution to the literature on democratisation, as well as showing how Spanish foreign policy evolved between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s.
While the book focuses on democratic Spain, its revisionist view of democratic transitions is of more general relevance. Democratization is seen as an integral process involving related, though not simultaneous changes in domestic policy and external relations. Only with the transformation of her external relations did Spain »s new democracy finally become consolidated.
This book will be required reading for students of Spanish politics and will also be useful to those interested in the process of democratization.