ABSTRACT
The foundations of the still transforming present-day Spanish welfare state were laid with the political agreement of the Pactos de la Moncloa of 1977 and the democratic Constitution of 1978, which further advanced the recognition of social rights. This chapter illustrates the general structures of the Spanish welfare state over the last two decades. Additionally, it analyses the main developments in specific social policy areas in two reform periods, one from 1996 to 2007 and another from 2008 to 2018. We conclude that the Spanish welfare system needs appropriate restructuring to counter both long-lasting requests and emerging multi-layered defies. To reverse the negative effects of the great recession and its socio-economic adjustments and reinstate both the political legitimacy and the stability at the territorial level, the Spanish welfare state must reach once again a political consensus; a consensus similar to the one attained during the Spanish transition to democracy and which guided the foundation and evolution of the evolving present-day welfare system. Yet the prospects of reaching a consensus are currently far from real.
