- Publisher:
- MANCHESTER
- Year of publication:
- 2020
- ISBN:
- 978-1-5261-0518-9
- Pages:
- 416
FOLLOWING FRANCO
SPANISH CULTURE AND POLITICS IN TRANSITION
DUNCAN WHEELER
"Spain faces many challenges in the twenty-first century. Disillusionment with the two mainstream parties has resulted in the emergence of radical political start-ups Podemos and Vox, while the illegal 2017 referendum on Catalan independence marked the country's worst constitutional crisis since 1981, when members of the Guardia Civil entered parliament and held democracy to ransom.In this bold and far-reaching study, Duncan Wheeler traces the roots of Spain's current problems to the process of democratic transition following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. Once hailed as a model of managed political change, the Transition came under intense scrutiny after the 2008 financial crisis, and a growing divide now exists between its supporters and those who see it as the source of Spain's current socio-political bankruptcy. Arguing that culture and politics are inextricably linked, Wheeler revisits the crucial decades of 1962 to 1992, exposing the networks of art, media and power that drove the Transition and continue to underpin Spanish politics today.Based on rare archival materials and over three hundred interviews with politicians, artists, journalists and ordinary Spaniards, including former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez (1982-96), Following Franco is a monumental work that offers a new way of understanding the complex and often contradictory narratives surrounding the foundation of contemporary Spain." -- Back cover.
