SESSION 1 PRESENTATION

SPANISH CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE

CEA BARCELONA GLOBAL CAMPUS

SUMMER 2007 PROGRAMME

Instructor: Victor Lapuente Gine

e-mail: vlapuente@ceacs.march.es
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OUTLINE OF THE SESSION

3) Introductions

5) Why is this course important?

7) The plan for the course

9) Diversity in Spain

11) Spain: Northern Africa or Southern Sweden?

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1) Introductions

-Me

-You

-Spain
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Spain:
b) How many languages are spoken in Spain?
c) Head of State?
d) Prime Minister?
e) Population?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Spain
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Recent History:

-After the death of General Franco in 1975, Spain embarked on a

political transition to democracy.

-Following the legalisation of political parties, the first free election for
40 years was held in 1977

-In 1978 a referendum approved a new democratic constitution and

repealed many of the laws of the Franco era

-In 1986 Spain joined the European Community (now EU)

-Spain was one of the founder members of economic and monetary

union (EMU) in January 1999
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Political structure:

-Spain is a constitutional monarchy. The king, Juan Carlos, will be

succeeded by his son, Felipe.

-The parliament, or Cortes, is bicameral. Real power resides in the

350-seat lower house (Congress of Deputies).

-The upper house (Senate) has 208 directly elected members and 51
regional representatives.

-Spain in now the most decentralised large country in Europe after

Germany, but demands for greater autonomy by some of the 17
regions or autonomous communities are a source of political
tension.
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Quality of life in Spain

Determinants of quality of life (The EIU)

1. Material wellbeing
gdp per person,
2. Health
Life expectancy at birth, years.
3. Political stability and security
Political stability and security ratings.
4. Family life
Divorce rate (per 1,000 population)
5. Community life
6. Climate and geography
Latitude, to distinguish between warmer and colder climes.
7. Job security
Unemployment rate, %.
8. Political freedom
Average of indices of political and civil liberties.
9. Gender equality
Ratio of average male and female earnings
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2) Why is this course important?

-To understand the historical evolution of Spain
and Catalonia

-To understand one of the biggest socio-

economic transformation worldwide in the last 50
years. (Korea and Spain show the highest GDP
growth in the 1950-2000 period)

-Is Spain an example to follow?

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3) The plan for the course

Content:
-Sessions & Special Sessions
-Discussion papers & Assignments
-Participation in class
-Midterm/Final examination
4) The diversity in Spain

-Definitions of Spain by British observers:

Richard Ford: “A bunch of local unities tied by a sand
rope”

Gerald Brenan (“The Spanish Labyrinth”): “set of little

hostile or independent republics, linked by a scarcely
cohesive federation. At some points of history, those
little centers have felt contaminated by a feeling or a
common idea and have performed together; but,
when such spirit declined, they divided and they
came back to their separate existence.”
1)Topographic diversity

2) Climatic diversity

3) Economic, political and cultural diversity

How geography shaped regional diversity in Spain:

-The fertile soils of Levante and Guadalquivir Valley  magnet to

incoming waves of settlers (e.g. Roman cities…)

-Narrow crossing between Southern Spain and North Africa 

contact among those regions

-Mountain chains around Meseta  obstacle for communication

between the more prosperous periphery and the peoples of the
interior
-This “geographical handicap” (Sanchez-Albornoz) has
encouraged the development of regionalist and separatist
movements

-Ortega y Gasset (“Invertebrate Spain”): Spain is “not so

much a nation as a series of watertight compartments”

-For many historians, Spanish history is to be understood

above all in terms of a permanent struggle between
centre and periphery.
-When was Spain as a nation born?

4. Dynastic union by Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand

II of Aragon in 1479
(show the map of Spain and point out, more or less,
where Castile and Aragon lay)

• Visigothic Monarchy in the late 6th century

• When Philip V swept away the privileges and

institutions of the constituent realms of the Crown of
Aragon in 1715
-Spain, between Europe and Africa

4. Why ‘Africa begins at the Pyrenees’?

2. Why Spain belongs to Europe?

5) Spain: Northern Africa or Southern Sweden?

• Read The Economist Article

• Discussion: Are we more or less liberal

than the US?