ABSTRACT
The social context was marked by the austerity policies subscribed to by both the PP and the PSOE by 2010, undertaken in response to the global financial and economic crisis, compounded by the national collapse of the Spanish construction industry and property market. Economic conditions and austerity politics prompted a rise in social movement activity right across Spain, but nowhere was this as vigorous as in Barcelona, with its long history of radical protest and cultural creativity. The new Spanish model of democracy involved various mechanisms to consolidate the position of a reduced number of parties, to the point that it was referred to by some critics as a ‘party state’. Socio-economic hardship during the great recession meanwhile gave rise to, or strengthened, social movements, generally led by people with no involvement in institutional political life and indeed often sceptical about conventional politics and parties.
