A singular history. Spain, from dictatorship to democracy

Spain has long been an exception in Western Europe. The complicated and contested birth of a nation-state backed by the supremacy of the Catholic Church led, in the middle of the 20th century, to an anachronistic dictatorship. That's why Spain's democratic metamorphosis after Franco's death came as such a surprise.

By Hubert Peres, Professor of Political Science at UM (retired).

Hubert Peres is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Montpellier and a researcher at the Centre d'études politiques et sociales: environnement, santé, territoires (CEPEL, UMR CNRS - University of Montpellier), of which he was director between 2003 and 2015.