Spanish transition to democracy

Kingdom of Spain
*Reino de España*
Kingdom of Spain Reino de España
1975–1982
	Flag; (1977–1981) Coat of arms; (1977–1981)
	Motto: Una, Grande y Libre; ("One, Great and Free"); Plus Ultra; ("Further Beyond")
	Anthem: Marcha Real; ("Royal March");
	The Kingdom of Spain in 1975
Capital and largest city	Madrid
Official languages	Spanish; After 1978: Catalan, Basque, Galician
Religion	Roman Catholicism (state religion until 1978)
Government	Unitary provisional; absolute monarchy; (1975–1978); Unitary parliamentary; constitutional monarchy; (after 1978);
King
• 1975–1982	Juan Carlos I
Prime Minister
• 1975–1976	Carlos Arias Navarro
• 1976–1981	Adolfo Suárez
• 1981–1982	Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
Legislature	Cortes Españolas (until 1977); Cortes Generales (from 1977);
• Upper House	Senate
• Lower House	Congress of Deputies
Historical era	Cold War
• Death of Franco	20 November 1975
• Political Reform Act	18 November 1976
• 1977 election	15 June 1977
• Amnesty Law	15 October 1977
• Constitution adopted	29 December 1978
• 1979 election	1 March 1979
• Attempted coup d'état	23 February 1981
• 1982 election	28 October 1982
Currency	Spanish peseta
Calling code	+34
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	1975:; Spanish State
	1977:; Spanish Republican; government-in-exile
Kingdom of Spain

The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as la Transición (IPA: [la tɾansiˈθjon]; "the Transition") or la Transición española ("the Spanish Transition"), is a period of modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system, in the form of constitutional monarchy under Juan Carlos I.

The democratic transition began after the death of Francisco Franco, in November 1975.^[1] Initially, "the political elites left over from Francoism" attempted "to reform of the institutions of dictatorship" through existing legal means,^[2] but social and political pressure saw the formation of a democratic parliament in the 1977 general election, which had the imprimatur to write a new constitution that was then approved by referendum in December 1978. The following years saw the beginning of the development of the rule of law and establishment of regional government, amidst ongoing terrorism, an attempted coup d'état and global economic problems.^[2] The Transition is said to have concluded after the landslide victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the 1982 general election and the first peaceful transfer of executive power. Democracy was on the road to being consolidated.^[2]^[a]

The end result of the Transition according to Casanova was "at least from 1982 onwards, a parliamentary monarchy, based on a democratic constitution, with a large number of rights and freedoms, the consequence of a complex transition, riddled with conflicts, foreseen and unforeseen obstacles and problems, in the context of economic crisis and political uncertainty."^[2] However, as then-prime minister González said later, "the state apparatus was retained, in its entirety, from the dictatorship".^[5]

An important characteristic of the Transition was that the most important aspects were adopted by consensus between the governments and the opposition.^[6] While often cited as a paradigm of peaceful, negotiated transition, political violence during the Spanish transition was far more prevalent than during the analogous democratization processes in Greece or Portugal, with the emergence of separatist, leftist, fascist and vigilante terrorist groups and police violence.^[7]^[8]

The Re-Democratisation also led to Spain's integration into Europe, a dream of Spanish intellectuals since the end of the 19th century.^[9] Previous instances of democratization in Spain include the First Spanish Republic and the Second Spanish Republic.

^ Colomer Rubio 2012, p. 260.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Casanova & Gil Andrés 2014, p. 291.
^ Ortuño Anaya 2005, p. 22.
^ Tremlett 2008, p. 379.
^ Tremlett 2008, p. 142, quoting Felipe Gonzalez.
^ Aguilar 2009, p. 505.
^ Sánchez-Cuenca & Aguilar 2009, p. 429.
^ Tremlett 2008, p. 77: "More than a hundred demonstrators, left-wing activists, students and separatists were killed by the police or the ultras, the far right. Many more were killed by ETA and other left-wing or separatist terrorist groups".
^ Casanova & Gil Andrés 2014, p. 356.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEColomer_Rubio2012260-1] Colomer Rubio 2012, p. 260.

[FOOTNOTECasanovaGil_Andrés2014291-2] Casanova & Gil Andrés 2014, p. 291.

[FOOTNOTEOrtuño_Anaya200522-3] Ortuño Anaya 2005, p. 22.

[FOOTNOTETremlett2008379-4] Tremlett 2008, p. 379.

[FOOTNOTETremlett2008p._142,_quoting_Felipe_Gonzalez-6] Tremlett 2008, p. 142, quoting Felipe Gonzalez.

[FOOTNOTEAguilar2009505-7] Aguilar 2009, p. 505.

[FOOTNOTESánchez-CuencaAguilar2009429-8] Sánchez-Cuenca & Aguilar 2009, p. 429.

[FOOTNOTETremlett2008p._77:_"More_than_a_hundred_demonstrators,_left-wing_activists,_students_and_separatists_were_killed_by_the_police_or_the_''ultras'',_the_far_right._Many_more_were_killed_by_ETA_and_other_left-wing_or_separatist_terrorist_groups"-9] Tremlett 2008, p. 77: "More than a hundred demonstrators, left-wing activists, students and separatists were killed by the police or the ultras, the far right. Many more were killed by ETA and other left-wing or separatist terrorist groups".

[FOOTNOTECasanovaGil_Andrés2014356-10] Casanova & Gil Andrés 2014, p. 356.

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