PO/SO/HS331 UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY SPAIN: POLITICS, SOCIETY AND HISTORY IES Abroad Barcelona DESCRIPTION: Why are Spaniards exhuming mass graves of the Civil War? How can the country tolerate an unemployment rate of 16 percent? Why does a country with a historic reputation for machismo boast such progressive laws on gender and gay marriages? How come political corruption remains so prevalent? Will Spaniards change the constitution in order to placate the increasing demands of separatists in Catalonia and the Basque Country? Spain remains a country filled with paradoxes. During the Great Recession (2008 2013), it exhibited spiraling rates of unemployment, multiple bank failures, and a cascade of evictions. Yet, unlike other Southern European countries, it maintained political stability, implemented the directives of the European Union, and emerged from the crisis with its central institutions in tact. Recently, however, things have changed. New "citizens parties" from the right and left have challenged the hegemony of a two party system, corruption scandals have caused many to lose faith in government, and a secessionist movement in Catalonia has grown so strong that it is unclear whether it can be satisfied without a large scale reform of the constitution. At the present time, the central institutions of the Spanish state are being thrown into question. All of this makes for an interesting time to study politics and recent history. This course examines political and social issues relevant to Spaniards today. It begins by discussing recent history in order to contextualize the major themes of the past few decades. It then moves to those subjects that emerged out of the transition to democracy regionalism, terrorism, political amnesties and still account for many of the peculiarities of the political system. The course then analyzes Spain s Second Transition around the turn of the twenty first century when two parties alternated in power and confronted a new gamut of issues concerning immigration, Islamic fundamentalism, foreign policy, gender and family relations, historical memory, political corruption, and ultimately an economic crisis. The last third of the class addresses the Catalan independence movement, new political parties, and the crisis of political disaffection that Spaniards are undergoing today. The course is multi disciplinary, consisting of a mixture of readings from political science, history, and cultural studies. Each session will consist of a lecture and a class discussion. CREDITS: 3 credits CONTACT HOURS: 45 hours LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: English PREREQUISITES: None METHOD OF PRESENTATION: Class discussion: The majority of each class will consist of discussions of key themes. Students will be provided with the texts to read for each class on Moodle, together with a list of reading questions designed to focus their attention on key points and concepts in the texts. These will form the basis of the class discussions. Course related trips: There will be one in course related trip to the Institutions of Catalan Government through the centuries. Lectures: The professor will supplement class discussions with lectures to help the students interpret the material provided in the class readings, to tie the readings together, and provide summaries of theoretical approaches to the subject. Guest Speaker: The course will feature a guest speaker who will discuss issues regarding Catalan separatism in Barcelona today. REQUIRED WORK AND FORM OF ASSESSMENT: Mid term exam (30%): This will use different formats to assess students progress towards the learning outcomes in the first half of the course. The question formats will include essay questions, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and justified True/False questions. Final Paper (20%): This consists of an original research project, 7 to 10 pages long, on a topic to be discussed and agreed upon with the professor and later presented to the class for discussion. The students will be presented with a list of 5 possible topics of research. Presentation of Final Paper (5%): During the last days of class, students will be required to present their research paper, which will be evaluated independently of the paper itself.
Class participation (15%). Students will be expected to come to class prepared, and to participate actively in class. Final exam (30%). Like the midterm exam, this will use different formats to assess students progress towards the learning outcomes. Rubrics for all these pieces of assessment available on the Moodle page. LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of the course students will be able to: engage directly in debates concerning events in Spain currently covered in the news. articulate the historical context of regional tensions in Spain today. analyze the tremendous changes that have taken place within Spanish society and culture over the past three decades. demonstrate knowledge of the major issues relevant to Spaniards and Europeans today, including immigration, unemployment, the economic crisis, gender relations, and the European Union. ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance is mandatory for all IES Abroad classes, including course related trips. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course 3 percentage points will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade. CONTENT: Session Content Required Reading Session 1 Introduction to the Course Session 2 The Construction of the Spanish State Magone, José M. "The Transformation of Spanish Politics: A Review of the Historical Legacy," in Contemporary Spanish Politics, 3d ed. (London: Routledge: 2018), 1 27. Session 3 The Legacy of the Past: Francoism and Repression Richards, Michael. Civil War, Violence, and the Construction of Francoism, in The Republic Besieged, ed. Preston Paul and Mackenzie Anne L. (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1996), pp. 197 240. Ruiz, Julius. "A Spanish Genocide? Reflections on the Francoist Repression after the Spanish Civil War, Contemporary European History, 14, no. 2 (2005): 171 191. Session 4 The Legacy of the Past: Francoism and Development Rodriguez Barreiro, Oscar. "The Franco Dictatorship, 1939 1975," in Adrian Shubert and José Álvarez Junco (eds.), The History of Modern Spain: Chronologies, Themes, Individuals (London: Bloomsbury, 2018), 97 112. Cazorla Sánchez, Antonio. "Francisco Franco", in The History of Modern Spain, 450 458.
Session 5 The Transition to Democracy Radcliff, Pamela B. "From Democratic Transition to Consolidation and Crispación, 1970s to the Present", in The History of Modern Spain, 113 132. Session 6 The Constitution of 1978 and the Political System Magone, José. "The Core Spanish Institutions, in Contemporary Spanish Politics, 60 108. Session 7 Session 8 Session 9 The Territorial Distribution of Power and Its Opponents (23 F; ETA) Course related trip Visit to the Catalan Institutions of Government The Socialist in Power and the Modernization of Democratic Spain Encarnación, Omar. "A Nation of Nations: Decentralizing the State", in Spanish Politics: Democracy after Dictatorship (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008), 91 110. Students do research on the institutions of Catalan government since the 13 th century. Black, Stanley. "Felipismo, 1982 1996", Spain since 1939 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009), 109 146. Session 10 The EEC and the Welfare System Encarnación, Omar. "Growing Pains: Modernizing The Economy", in Spanish Politics, 111 130. Session 11 Session 12 Review for Midterm and Explanation of Final Paper Midterm Exam Session 13 The Popular Party in Power Black, Stanley. "The Return of the Right, in Spain since 1939, 147 182. Session 14 Session 15 Section 16 The War in Iraq (2003) and the Terrorist Attacks of 2004 The Return of the Socialists to Power: Zapatero's Second Transition Historical Memory and the Exhumation of Civil War Graves Jiménez, Manuel. "Mobilizations against the Iraq War in Spain: Background, Participants, and Electoral Implications", South European Society and Politics, 12, no. 3 (2007): 399 420. Chari, Raj. "The 2004 Elections: Terrorism as a Catalyst for Change", West European Politics, 27, no. 5 (2004): 954 963. Encarnación, Omar. "Zapatero s Spain: A Second Transition", in Spanish Politics, 150 164. Aguilar, Paloma and Ramírez Barat, Clara. "The Politics of Memory," in History of Contemporary Spain: 125 147 Ferrándiz, Francisco. "Exhuming the Defeated: Civil War Mass Graves in 21st Century Spain", American Ethnologist, 40, no. 1 (2013): 38 54.
Session 17 Feminism in a Catholic Country Valiente, Celia. "Spain at the Vanguard of Gender Equality Policies," in Silke Roth (ed.), Gender Politics in the European Union: Mobilization, Inclusion, and Exclusion (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2008). Valiente, Celia. "Gender Equality Policy Making in Spain: Losing Momentum (2008 2011)", in Politics and Society in Contemporary Spain: From Zapatero to Rajoy (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013), 179 137. Session 18 The Financial Crisis: 2008 2012 Royo, Sebastián. After Austerity: Lessons from the Spanish Experience. Real Instituto El Cano (Working Paper), 11/2014: 1 35. Session 19 The Indignant Ones Hughes, Neil. Young People took to the Streets and All of Sudden All of the Political Parties got Old: The 15 M Movement in Spain. Social Movement Studies 10(4) 2011: 407 413. Session 20 The Popular Party in Power (2011 Present): From Majority Rule to the End of the Two Party System FINAL PAPER DUE del Pino, Eloisa. "The Spanish Welfare State from Zapatero to Rajoy: Recalibration and Retrenchment", in Politics and Society in Contemporary Spain, 2013: 197 216. Orriols, Lluis and Cordero, Guillermo. "The Breakdown of the Spanish Two Party System: The Upsurge of Podemos and Ciudadanos in the 2015 General Elections", South European Society and Politics, 21, no. 4 (2016): 469 492. Session 21 Secessionism in Catalonia Crameri, Kathryn. "Do Catalans have 'The Right to Decide'? Secession, Legitimacy and Democracy in Twenty First Century Europe", Global Discourse, 6, no.3 (2016): 423 439. Dowling, Andrew. "Accounting for the Turn Toward Secession in Catalonia", International Journal of Iberian Studies, 27, no. 2 3 (2014): 219 234. Session 22 Session 23 Session 24 Spain Today: A Country Plagued by Secession and Corruption? Students Class Presentations Students Class Presentation Review for Final Exam Selection of Newspaper articles to be posted online. Final Exam
REQUIRED READINGS: AGUILAR, Paloma and RAMIREZ BARAT, Clara (2018). "The Politics of Memory," in in Adrian Shubert and José Álvarez Junco (eds.), The History of Modern Spain: Chronologies, Themes, Individuals. London: Bloomsbury: 125 147. BLACK, Stanley (2009). "Felipismo, 1982 1996", in Spain since 1939. Basingstoke: Palgrave: 109 146. CAZORLA SANCHEZ, Antonio (2018). "Francisco Franco" in Adrian Shubert and José Álvarez Junco (eds.), The History of Modern Spain: Chronologies, Themes, Individuals. London: Bloomsbury: 97 112. CRAMERI, Kathryn (2016). "Do Catalans have 'The Right to Decide'? Secession, Legitimacy and Democracy in Twenty First Century Europe", Global Discourse, 6, no.3: 423 439. CHARI, Raj (2004). "The 2004 Elections: Terrorism as a Catalyst for Change" West European Politics, 27, no. 5: 954 963. DEL PINO, Eloísa (2013), "The Spanish Welfare State from Zapatero to Rajoy: Recalibration and Retrenchment", in Politics and Society in Contemporary Spain. Palgrave, Macmillan: 197 216. DOWLING, Andrew (2014). "Accounting for the Turn Toward Secession in Catalonia", International Journal of Iberian Studies, 27, no. 2 3 (2014): 219 234. ENCARNACIÓN, Omar (2008). "A Nation of Nations: Decentralizing the State", in Spanish Politics: Democracy after Dictatorship. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008: 91 110. FERRANDIZ, Francisco (2013). "Exhuming the Defeated: Civil War Mass Graves in 21st Century Spain", American Ethnologist, 40, no. 1 (2013): 38 54. HUGHES, Neil (2011). Young People took to the Streets and All of Sudden All of the Political Parties got Old: The 15 M Movement in Spain. Social Movement Studies 10(4) 2011: 407 413. JIMÉNEZ, Manuel (2007). "Mobilizations against the Iraq War in Spain: Background, Participants, and Electoral Implications", South European Society and Politics, 12, no. 3: 399 420. MAGONE, José María (2018). "The Transformation of Spanish Politics: A Review of the Historical Legacy", in Contemporary Spanish Politics, 3d ed. London: Routledge: 1 27 & 60 108. ORRIOLS, LLuis and CORDERO, Guillermo (2016). "The Breakdown of the Spanish Two Party System: The Upsurge of Podemos and Ciudadanos in the 2015 General Elections", South European Society and Politics, 21, no. 4: 469 492. RADCLIFF, Pamela (2018). "From Democratic Transition to Consolidation and Crispación, 1970s to the Present", in Adrian Shubert and José Álvarez Junco (eds.), The History of Modern Spain: Chronologies, Themes, Individuals. London: Bloomsbury 113 132. RICHARDS, Michael (1996). Civil War, Violence, and the Construction of Francoism, in The Republic Besieged, ed. Preston Paul and Mackenzie Anne L. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press: 197 240. ROYO, Sebastián (2014). After Austerity: Lessons from the Spanish Experience. Real Instituto El Cano (Working Paper), 11/2014: 1 35. RODRÍGUEZ BARREIRO, Oscar (2018). "The Franco Dictatorship, 1939 1975", in Adrian Shubert and José Álvarez Junco (eds.), The History of Modern Spain: Chronologies, Themes, Individuals. London: Bloomsbury: 97 112. RUIZ, Julius (2005). "A Spanish Genocide? Reflections on the Francoist Repression after the Spanish Civil War", Contemporary European History, 14, no. 2: 171 191. VALIENTE, Celia (2008). "Spain at the Vanguard of Gender Equality Policies", in Silke Roth (ed.), Gender Politics in the European Union: Mobilization, Inclusion, and Exclusion. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2008. VALIENTE, Celia (2013). "Gender Equality Policy Making in Spain: Losing Momentum (2008 2011)", in Politics and Society in Contemporary Spain: From Zapatero to Rajoy. Basingstoke: Palgrave: 179 137. RECOMMENDED READINGS: BALFOUR, Sebastian ed. The Politics of Contemporary Spain (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2005). CALVO, Kerman. Sacrifices That Pay: Polity Membership, Political Opportunities and the Recognition of Same sex Marriage in Spain. South European Society and Politics, v. 12, n. 3 (2007): pp. 295 314. CALVO, Kerman and MARTIN Irene. Ungrateful Citizens? Women s Rights Policies in Zapatero s Spain, South European Society and Politics, v. 14, n. 4 (2009): pp. 487 502. CLOSA, Carlos and HEYWOOD, Paul. Spain and The European Union (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). ENCARNACIÓN, Omar. Spanish Politics: Democracy after Dictatorship (New York: Polity Press, 2008). FIELD, Bonnie N. ed. Spain s Second Transition? The Socialist Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (New York: Routledge, 2010).
FERRANDIZ, Francisco. The Return of Civil War Ghosts: The Ethnography of Exhumations in Contemporary Spain, Anthropology Today, v. 22, n. 3 (2006): pp. 7 12. GUNTHER, Richard and MONTERO José Ramón. The Politics of Spain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2009). HEYWOOD, Paul. Corruption in Contemporary Spain, Political Science and Politics, v. 44, n.4 (2007): pp. 176 199. JIMENEZ, Fernando. Political Scandals and Political Responsibility in Democratic Spain, Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?, ed. Paul Heywood (London: Frank Cass, 1999), pp. 80 102. LABANYI, Jo. Memory and Modernity in Democratic Spain: The Difficulty of Coming to Terms with the Spanish Civil War", Poetics Today, v. 28 (Spring 2007): pp. 89 116. MAGONE, José M. Contemporary Spanish Politics, 2d. ed. (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2009). MCROBERTS, Kenneth. Catalonia: Nation Building without a State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). MEES, Ludger. Nationalism, Violence, and Democracy: The Basque Clash of Identities (London: Palgrave, 2003). MURO, Diego. Ethnicity and Violence: The Case of Radical Basque Nationalism (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2007). MURO, Diego. Territorial Accomodation, Party Politics, and Statute Reform in Spain, South European Society and Politics, v. 14, n. 4 (2009): pp. 453 468. POWELL, Charles. A Second Transition or More of the Same? Spanish Foreign Policy under Zapatero, South European Society and Politics, v. 14, n. 4 (2009): pp. 519 536. RICHARDS, Andrew. Progressive Failure: Governments, Unions, and the Continuing Marginalization of Immigrants in Spain, South European Society and Politics, v. 14, n. 4 (2009): pp. 469 485. SÁNCHEZ CUENCA, Ignacio. The Persistence of National Terrorism: The Case of ETA, in Violent Non State Actors in Contemporary World Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010).