Political Institutions in Spain

Comparative Political Institutions - Series Editor: Peter Mair, University of Leiden Comparative Political Institutions is a new series of textbooks written by leading scholars for use by students and teachers of political science. The series offers comprehensive and challenging accounts of the institutional structures of national political systems, and an authoritative and up-to-date collection of analyses of contemporary politics. Each of the books is intended to provide an intelligent and succinct interpretation for use in undergraduate and graduate level courses in comparative politics. The Spanish Political System analyses this European country's political structures and institutions following its transition to democracy in the 1970s and 1980s. Taking an institutional perspective, it provides information about both the formal and informal processes central to governance in Spain. Description of the structure of the Spanish executive, legislature, and judiciary are combined with an explanation of why such structures were chosen and their political consequences.
In addition, the analysis seeks to explain the rules affecting the organization of Spain's political parties, electoral system, and its system of regional governments. The book's institutional description is guided by two central themes, both based on the belief that mass-elite linkages are central to the study of democratic politics in the Western world. The first argument contends that institutional arrangements, rules, and processes directly affect political outcomes. The second emphasizes that institutional arrangements reward some participants while penalising others. Taken together, these two lines of argument suggest that a robust understanding of the Spanish political system must include the politics of 'inclusion' and 'exclusion'. Aimed at students of comparative politics and Spanish politics, this book offers a broad-ranging and sophisticated introduction to the contemporary institutions and processes of the Spanish political system.