From the end of the Civil War up to the recovery of democracy, Spanish foreign policy was characterized by contradictions, divergences and deficiences which were a consequence of the ideological and political peculiarities of the Franco dictatorship.

Foreign policy in this period can be divided into four different stages, distinct in their style and objectives, but which all share the same essential trait of the subjugation of foreign policy to the maintenance of the regime.

1. The first stage spans the end of the Civil War to the last months of 1942. Most notable in this period is the work of Ramon Serrano Suner, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which assured the coherence between the ideology of the regime and its foreign policy.
2. The second stage of Francoist foreign policy begins at the end of 1942 and runs to 1957. The international isolation to which Spain was subjected up to 1951 had a profound effect and the regime was forced to use all its energies to obtain worldwide recognition and to instigate a more flexible approach towards Spain. Alberto Martin Artajo, the Foreign Minister from 1945 to the beginning of 1957, played a decisive role in this plan of action.
3. The third stage of the dictatorship's foreign policy runs from 1957 to 1969 and corresponds to the mandate of Fernando Maria Castiella as Foreign Minister. The recent incorporation of Spain into the international community (1951: WHO; 1952: UNESCO; 1953 International Labour Organization; 1955: United Nations) served as a basis for a foreign policy strategy that was more active and more in accordance with the new realities and changing international dynamics. Nevertheless. the policies of this stage won limited results, due to the contradictions between external action and the internal dynamic. This failure was evident in the relations with the European Community and with the United States as well as in the decolonization movement.
4. The final stage of Francoist foreign policy extends from 1969 to the death of Francisco Franco himself in November 1975. Lopez Rodo and Cortina Mauri successively occupied the post of Foreign Minister during the years which coincided with the physical decline of the dictator and the final phase of his regime. Their mandates had a distinct continuist character and were determined by the objective to avoid the possible international isolation of a dictatorship already in its deatch throes. In spite of this goal a series of events, both internal and external, and closely interwined, contributed to the weakening of the regime's diplomatic positions. In the first place, relations with the Catholic Church and the Holy See deteriorated greatly which resulted in the freezing of the negotiations for the preparation of a new Concordat (the first one was signed in 1953) and in the loss of one of the most tratidional and solid bulwarks of the regime. At the same time, the Revolution of the Carnations was taking place in Portugal, in April 1974, which put an end to a dictatorship that had lasted even longer that the Spanish one. This denoted the loss of a traditional and unconditional ally in the Iberian Peninsula and constituted another factor in the internal political instability.

Franco's death in November 1975 led to a process of political change which, in addition to giving rise to democracy, meant the redefinition of all the provisions of Spain's foreing policy.

On 15 December 1975, the Prime Minister, Carlos Arias Navarro, designated Jose Maria de Areilza as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The new Minister dedicated his efforts to winning the West's acceptance of the dictatorship's timid reforms. His attempts were succesful only in the negotiation of an Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation with the United States accompanied by several complementary agreements, which nevertheless constituted an undoubtable improvement regarding Spanish interests.

The failure of Arias Navarro's timid reformist attempts was soon evident; he was replaced as President of the Government by Adolfo Suarez who named Marcelino Oreja to the post of Foreign Minister. The new reforming impulse initiated by Suarez was successful and culminated in the recuperation of democratic freedom with the holding of general elections in June 1977, in which the Prime Minister's own party, the Democratic Centre Union, won hands down. The essential characteristic of foreign policy during this period of the democratic transition was the practice of consensus in important international policy matters, which demanded the consideration of only those issues which would not give rise to confrontation; those which could disrupt the unity necessary for the consolidation of the democratic system were put on hold.