Spanish History and Politics: 1936 to the present

INTRODUCTION

This course aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of recent Spanish history and its political system(s). Following a chronological explanation, the major historical, political and military events will be explained, without losing perspective of the social and economic consequences, and always trying to picture the big periods and changes that the country has undergone in the last decades.
There will be a special emphasis on the major trends in Spanish political thought from each period, looking at different perspectives and interpretations.

The different steps throughout the semester will be: an overview of the current Spanish political situation, main characters, political parties, etc., so that students get acquainted with the specific vocabulary; an introduction to the late 19th and the early 20th, paying special attention to the events that can be considered as immediate precedents, both ideologically and historically, to the Spanish Civil War; the Civil War itself and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco, both essential to understand the political and cultural mentality of every Spaniard today; the Transition and the Democratic years until the present and how Spain has struggled to normalize its political and social life.