ABSTRACT
Spain has been one of the last Western European countries to achieve democratic rule. After forty years of Franco’s dictatorship, the 1978 Constitution offered a new political framework within which the Spaniards could organise their lives. One of the major issues faced by the new regime was the national question, which was particularly acute in Catalonia and the Basque Country. The Autonomous Communities System was created to solve this problem by radically transforming the centralist nondemocratic socio-political system inherited from Francoism. The lack of violence in the transition to democracy, and the almost immediate acceptance of Spain by Western organisations such as NATO and the EC, together with the rapid activation of the economy, have prompted the emergence of a highly dynamic Spain opposed to traditional patterns. Today, Spain is a country struggling to overcome a chronic backwardness and willing to catch up with its European neighbours. The lack of bloodshed in the 1989 East European revolutions, the multinational character of the former USSR and the wish to initiate democratic rule have instigated many to look to Spain as a model and way forward. However, any comparison should not ignore the fact that well before 1975 Spain had a capitalist economy. In contrast, Eastern European countries are caught up in the processes of bringing democracy about while at the same time they are experiencing a painful transition from planned to market economy.
