A BRIEF INTRODUCTION: From SPAIN BEYOND THE MYTHS, by Carlos Alonso
                      Zaldivar and Manuel Castells. Alianza Editorial,
                      S.A., Madrid, 1992.

Once upon a time there was a country with so many possessions that the sun never set on them, despite which it was weak at heart. Such was Spain under Felipe II, four centuries ago. Then came more than 150 years, during which this weakness came closer to the surface, followed by several decades of recovery under Carlos III and, finally, a devastating war, the War of Independence (Peninsular War), a battle between Spaniards and a dispute between the French and the English fought on Spanish soil. After this war, Spain, no longer the great power it once had been, lost its American colonies and plunged into domestic quarrels for yet another century, while its old European rivals intervened and interfered in its affairs. In 1898, it was attacked and crushed by the United States then an emerging power. Confused, Spain entered the twentieth century as a country excluded from the great European alliances, with an ill-fated African colonial policy, putting its faith in the League of Nations. It escaped the First World War, but was then shaken by a terrible civil war, which was in part the Spanish overture to the Second World War. Though it had not taken an active part in the war, at its end Spain once again found itself isolated, for having sided with Nazism and Fascism. In 1945, repudiated by the democracies, Spain's international standing reached its all-time low. Over the next thirty years, Franco tried to escape this isolation, though without relinquishing his dictatorial regime. Thanks to the Cold War climate, he was able to get some results: the Concordat with the Holy See; the military pacts with the United States; U.N. membership; and a preferential trade agreement with the European Community. But even these meagre accomplishments were on the verge of coming undone in 1975.

If the crisis of Franco's regime was evident anywhere upon the death of the dictator in 1975, it was in foreign policy. 1974 saw the Revolution of the Carnations in Portugal and the change of regime in Greece. Spain was the only non-democratic country left in Western Europe, which did not help its international standing. Prospects for an enlargement of the EC were opening up, but no for Spain. The bilateral defence agreements with the United States, which expired that year, were extended rather than renegotiated. The Anoveros affair led to a serious deterioration in relations with the Vatican, which had been worsening since the Second Vatican Council. In 1975 Franco's President of Government was allowed to attend the Helsinki Conference. From September on, however, events once more turned against the regime. The execution of five political prisoners was condemned by the NATO countries and Pope Paul VI. The EC put negotiations on updating the 1970 preferential agreement on ice, a similar gesture to the one made by the United States, and several foreign ambassadors were recalled for consulation. Only weeks later, in October 1975, Hassan II embarked upon the green march on Western Sahara: tension, the threat of war, evidence of the regime's impotence and, finally, the signing of the Madrid Agreements which belied the arguments Spain had used until then. In short, Spain was put to shame and thirty years of diplomatic efforts to end isolation were undermined.

It was then that Franco died, and the world began to ask what was going to happen in Spain. What was going to happen in a country whose last encounter with democracy has ended in a bloody civil war, in a country which, historically, culturally and geographically, belonged to Europe, but whose influence extended across the Mediterranean and as far as Latin America. What was going to happen in a country that was not a member of any Western institution (EC, NATO, Council of Europe), but which Franco has put at the service of US security needs. We now have the answer to these questions before our very eyes: Spain has built a stable and prosperous democracy, reforged its natural links with Europe, America and the Mediterranean world, and is today a respected country not without influence. This transformation has been neither easy nor painless and is probably not over yet, albeit for the simple reason that as Spain was bringing its own international transition to an end, the world was embarking upon a transition from cold-war politics, leading no-one knowns yet quite where.

     (End of introduction)

In this chapter, we aim to analyse the main lines of Spanish foreign policy during the transition and under democracy and where they will take us in the future. You can get mo|re information about the 11 topics of this chapter at,

   YES, SPAIN
   350 Sparks Street. Suite 802
   Ottawa, Ontario
   K1R 7S8
   Canada
   Phone Number 613. 237 2193
   Fax 613. 236 9246

The 11 Topics Are:

1. FRANCOIST DICTATORSHIP AND THE COUNTRY'S ISOLATION BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
2. THE RECOVERY OF LIBERTY AND THE NORMALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.
3. THE 1982 SOCIALIST VICTORY.
4. INTEGRATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
5. SPANISH PARTICIPATION IN THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE.
6. SPAIN'S INCORPORATION IN THE WESTERN EUROPEAN UNION.
7. PEACE AND SECURITY POLICIES DEFINED BY SPAIN OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS.
8. SPAIN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS.
9. PARTICIPATION IN LATIN AMERICA.
10. SPANISH MEDITERRANEAN POLICY.
11. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT.
12. SPAIN IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.

Thank-you.