Politics and Society in Contemporary Spain From Zapatero to Rajoy
This edited volume examines the political, social, and economic developments in contemporary Spain, with a particular focus on the period of the Socialist government (2008-11), the 2011 elections, and the challenges facing Spain and the new Popular Party
- PDF / 150,752 Bytes
- 21 Pages / 595 x 842 pts (A4) Page_size
- 44 Downloads / 199 Views
Please respect intellectual property rights This material is copyright and its use is restricted by our standard site license terms and conditions (see palgraveconnect.com/pc/connect/info/terms_conditions.html). If you plan to copy, distribute or share in any format, including, for the avoidance of doubt, posting on websites, you need the express prior permission of Palgrave Macmillan. To request permission please contact [email protected].
Governing Spain in Tough Times and in Minority: The Limits of Shifting Alliances Bonnie N. Field
T
he contrast between the two Socialist Party (PSOE) governments of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is considerable. 1 The first government, which lasted from 2004 until 2008, was notable due to its progressive social legislation, particularly in the area of civil rights and liberties, territorial reforms that expanded political autonomy for several of Spain’s regional governments, and for reopening the political discussion of Spain’s past of civil war and dictatorship (see Bosco & Sánchez-Cuenca 2009; Field 2011). While the first Zapatero government certainly met with the ire of Spain’s conservative political forces, and of the opposition PP, it comparatively received much better reviews from the Spanish public. In polling over the four-year period, an average of 33 percent of Spaniards indicated that the PSOE government was generally governing well or very well. Only 21 percent of Spaniards polled indicated that it was governing poorly or very poorly.2 The 2008 parliamentary elections, which brought about Zapatero’s second term, came on the heels of a highly polarized period of Spanish politics, particularly manifested in extremely acrimonious interparty relations between the Socialists and the Popular Party (Field 2008; Sánchez-Cuenca 2009). The political atmosphere in Spain during the first Zapatero government was likely the most polarized of contemporary Spanish democracy. The strident environment, however, did not appear to negatively affect the main parties’ electoral fortunes. The PSOE’s electoral performance improved in 2008 from the general election in
10.1057/9781137306623.0008 - Governing Spain in Tough Times and in Minority, Bonnie N. Field
Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to UZH Hauptbibliothek / Zentralbibliothek Zurich - PalgraveConnect - 2014-07-04
CHAPTER 4
●
Bonnie N. Field
2004. It increased its vote share by 1.3 points and added an additional five seats in parliament. Their 169 seats, however, fell seven seats short of an absolute majority in a chamber of 350 seats. While polarization, which some analysts consider to be a Popular Party (PP) electoral strategy (Sánchez-Cuenca 2009), did not generate a PP victory, the party did improve its electoral performance by an even greater margin than the PSOE: 2.2 points and six seats. In number of votes, the PSOE added approximately 262,000 compared to nearly 515,000 for the PP. This vote concentration in the two largest parties came at the expense of the minor parties.3 I
Data Loading...
