Is Spain dictatorship or a democracy?

Answer 1

The Kingdom of Spain is a constitutional monarchy. King Juan Carlos I de Borbon y Borbon is Head of State. Head of Government is Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey (as of Dec 2011).

The organization of the spanish government is one with a Prime Minister and a dual-chamber legislature, with an independent court system. The Monarchy has only ceremonial duties, and has been shorn of real political power by the Spanish Constitution, though the monarch still retains significant public influence.

So, yes, Spain is a full modern liberal representative democracy.

Answer 2

This is a very complicated question with numerous different causes leading into Spain's transformation from a brutal Fascist Dictatorship (especially in the 1940s) to a democracy (such as Spain was in the late 1980s to the present). The simplest answer was that the death of General Franco, who had been Spain's dictator, allowed for King Juan Carlos to return to power and make alliances with democratic reformers to create a constitutional monarchy.

The more complicated answer is to note a number of slow changes and personalities that cropped up from the 1940s onward. Following the Second World War, Spain wanted US assistance from the Marshall Plan and General Franco, Spain's dictator had a strong Anti-Communist stance. These two things led to a rapprochement between Spain and the rest of the West and Spain becoming a NATO member. This diplomatic relationship with the rest of Europe also allowed Spain's economy to recover. Franco's policies became increasingly liberal in the late 1950s and 1960s. They were nowhere near as liberal as France, UK, or West Germany, but represented a shift away from totalitarian fascism of the 1930s. Additionally, many Spaniards went to West Germany and the UK as guest workers, coming back to Spain with the cultural norms that they had picked up in those democratic countries. The next form of integration into Europe and economic development would be to join the European Economic Community (the forerunner to the European Union), which made clear that only democratic states could join.

In that period General Franco groomed the grandson of King Alfonso XIII, who was deposed in 1931 to be his successor. Scholars debate whether Franco was grooming him to be another dictator like he was or he was grooming him to facilitate the transition to democracy in a way that Franco could not. Regardless, when Franco died in 1975 and King Juan Carlos succeeded him, he began a transition to democracy. He consulted with Adolfo Suarez, a former Francoist in order to coordinate the transition. Suarez made a number of key reforms, such as allowing other parties (especially the PSOE - the Socialists) to run freely in the elections. The King provided moral support and ceded most of his powers to the elected Cortes (Parliament) by writing the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The King's strongest moral support was after the Coup d'Etat in 1981 by the army still loyal to Franco's style of government where the King said unequivocally that he supported democracy. From that point onward, Spain was a democracy.

Of course, there are numerous other people and elements that went into the transition and there are entire books written on the period. Please also consult the Wikipedia Article on the Spanish Transition to Democracy for some more detailed information.

Answer 3

Since 1981, Spain has been a Constitutional Monarchy with an elected Parliament called the Cortés.