ABSTRACT
This entry presents an overall description of the welfare state in Spain, including its historical foundations, recent developments, and current institutional features. Although the Spanish welfare state shows more similarities than differences with other Western European welfare states, both in design and service provision, its evolution has undergone a different path during the twentieth century due to long spells of nondemocratic rule. The grounding of the Spanish welfare state was established in the democratic Constitution of 1978, with the recognition of a broad array of social rights. Although the construction of the welfare state is closely linked to the process of democratization, the origins of the system of social protection date from the early twentieth century. Since 1978, the Spanish welfare state has consolidated a hybrid profile in terms of the mix of principles: conservative–corporatist, social-democratic, and liberal or means-tested.
