Politics of freedom during the European post-WWII era and the Spa- nish transition to democracy

Abstract

For (Continental) Europe, the nineteenth-century was the century as far as both the adoption and consolidation of democracy and its distinct unquestionable social, economical and political progress are concerned. In addition, its was equally the century of totalitarianism, revolutions, concentration camps and of the great depression. In Spain, as in many other neigh- bouring regions, the so-called «conquista» of democracy was rather belated and problematic as well as accompanied by a strong polarisation and a rather high level of political violence. During the twentieth-century Spain aspired to and indeed reached the very same highest values in relation to the conquista of both freedom and democracy. However, this process started some time later than in most other regions of western continental Europe after a perhaps rather trau- matic experience. This article analyses the intellectual basis/origin/ramifications of the concepts of freedom and participation as adopted (and adapted) after the era of General Franco ́s dicta- torship. In addition, this article will examine the political culture of the main actors and it will be asserted that, equally as in distinct other contexts during the European post-WWII forties, the policy of freedom was preceded by an approximation of the cultural policies of the elites, which were distilled out of a critical analysis of the recent past. This article, therefore, includes not only a previous analysis of the politics/policy of freedom, the reconstruction and the social welfare during the European post-WWII period, but an analysis also of the fundamental liberal roots of the so-called new Atlantic democracies.