The role played by the Transition in contemporary Spain is currently subject to a historiographical debate not devoid of political intentions. For a long time, an interpretation prevailed that presented such a process as a model example of the transition from a dictatorial regime to a democratic one, a step based on a policy of consensus among the main political forces. This interpretation suggests that the events occurred this way because there was no other possibility since the change occurred following a certain script and elaborated not by Spanish society but by a few people (political leaders of one sign or another) who acted as guides in a path perfectly designed in advance. This pact would be promoted by Francoist sectors aware of the unviability of the regime and by sectors of the democratic opposition, aware of their political weakness at the time.
Other interpretations have recently appeared that tend to underline various deficiencies in the process. As a consequence of these deficiencies, some problems would have arisen later:the role of the monarchy, the neglect of the victims of Francoism, the bipartisan electoral structure, the enormous power of the "political class", the continuity of economic power,... In short, they tend to to highlight that the transition was made badly.
The way in which the transition was carried out responds to the correlation of social and political forces at that time. Without forgetting the background of an involutionist danger that existed until at least 1982; the dismantling of the Francoist state, despite the fact that it was slow and even incomplete, as well as the continuous activity of ETA, were responded to with anti-democratic attempts by many military and police sectors, accompanied by civil plots still not fully unraveled today. In this regard, the so-called Operation Galaxia, in 1978, can be considered the first coup attempt; the last one being Tejero's coup in 1981. During this period the possibility of a coup d'état was always present and, in front of it, there was only a still weak and fearful civil society, and some parties in the process of formation and definition. However, the fact that the majority of Spanish society opted for the democratic option without hesitation cannot be ignored.
Source:La República, 09/18/2012 A bibliographic approach We can find it at:
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