Spanish Conservative Politics

Abstract

S. 293: "following the Napoleonic invasion, liberalism was the prevailing orthodoxy within the limited Spanish elite then left with the political initiative. Such elements came from segments of the aristocracy and from more 'progressive' group[!] within the urban-based professional and commercial classes. Their 'modernising' projects included the creation of a constitutionally limited but centralised state, commercial expansion and a reduction in the traditionally significant role of Roman Catholicism. In practice, however, they had the perennial problem of operating within an overwhelmingly rural and (in European terms) economically backward society whose population ws hostile or indifferent to their objectives. The great mass of the population consisted, as in Andalusia, of alienated landless labourers or, as in Castile and Galicia, of small independent peasant farmers. The limited urban centres were controlled by relatively small professional groups with generally traditional values. Except in the few major cities these elements depended upon and sought to emulate if not join established 'upper class' groups. Such traditional 'clases medias' did not constitute a self-conscious bourgeoisie. Rather they, together with much of the peasantry, formed a fundamentally conformist and often \emph{a}political force. During the course of the nineteenth century the educated professional groups in question turned increasingly to the state for their employment. The 'liberal' state, in practice, tended to be the source of bureaucratic [294] careers for those who, in an economically backward society, were lacking alternative employment chances." S. 294: "For the most in this society political mobilisation was only likely to come in a response to apparently fundamental challenges to the \emph{status quo}. Indeed, such challenges form liberal forces gave rise to the fierce opposition of Carlists who fought nineteenth-century civil wars. This movement was partly a dynastic one but, most notably in the Basque Region[!], it acquired a substantial mass and largely peasant base. As such it signified the harsh reaction of closed and intensely Catholic rural communities to the 'liberal' state's centralising, urbanising and, above all, secularising tendencies. It was the apparent threat to established religious practices that was particularly responsible for Carlism's intransigent quality." Aus den Karlisten gingen später Bewegungen des katholischen Integralismus hervor, für die der Katholizismus der höchste Ausdruck und Garantie der nationalen Einheit war. Der Karlismus ist eher reaktionär als konservativ. S. 294: Vorläufer der gegenwärtigen Konservativen finden sich eher in den "Konservativen" der regierenden Eliten, die sich mit den "Liberalen" Gruppierungen in der Regierung abwechselten. Diese Gruppenunterschiede waren weniger Ausdruck von ideologischen Divergenzen als von unterschiedlichen Eliten-Interessen. "The contentious question of the Church was dealt with by officially recognising Catholicism's pre-eminent position but without resort to a fully confessional state (a situation which most of the [295] hierarchy accepted). A measure of popular legitimation was provided by appeals to a limited electorate whose general indifference or acquiescence rendered it subject to the manipulation of local political 'notables'." S. 295: "Growing urbanisation and substantial if localised industry ultimately eroded the basis of this system. New radical middle-class republican and left-wing working-class movements emerged to challenge the dominant parties. Likewise Catalan and Basque nationalist movements developed. Ultimately the system yielded to military rule under Primo Rivera who, with the monarch's complicity, established ta dictatorship."