The Historical Framework of Spain’s Twentieth-Century Constitutional Debates

This chapter enquires into the political language during Spain’s twentieth-century constitutional debates, namely, the constitutional debates of 1931 and 1977–1978. Constitution, democracy, and parliament became intertwined ideals. The republican democracy envisaged in 1931 was connected to a partisan interpretation of democratic institutions. By recasting the political language of the country, expectations of political, social, and economic modernization became a turning point. For a number of constituent representatives, the ideal of a republican regime was prior to democracy. Unlike the republican democracy of 1931, the constitutional state designed during the constitutional debate of 1977–1978 strengthened political and social pluralism, compatible with the defence of parliamentary democracy.