Franco's Spain.

Kennedy, Sean

Franco's Spain, by Jean Grugel and Tim Rees. London, Arnold, 1997. xiii, 206 pp. $37.95.

In this book intended for undergraduates and "that mythical creature of publishers' dreams, the interested general reader" (p. ix), Jean Grugel and Tim Rees quickly inform us what they will not devote much attention to. Topics included in this category are the opposition to the Francoist state, and its grassroots history. Nor do the authors enter into a debate over the extent to which this state could be considered fascist: in the preface they assert that this label is appropriate for its earliest years, but note that in general they will refer to it as a "dictatorship" or "authoritarian regime." Finally, by their own admission, there is not much of General Franco himself in this book, a decision defended with reference to Paul Preston's recent definitive biography of the dictator. These parameters are not as restrictive as they might initially appear to be, however, and the authors are to be credited with producing a concise, analytical, and often thought-provoking introduction to the history of the regime.

Franco's Spain is divided into two parts, with the first four chapters describing the evolution of the dictatorship. Here Grugel and Rees analyse the forging of the Nationalist coalition from a diverse group of rightist forces and its subsequent permutations. While discussing the genuine differences that did exist within the Nationalist camp, the authors note that Franco's apparent lack of ideological distinctiveness played an integrating role, and that on many issues a good deal of common ground existed. For example, while at first the radical rhetoric of the Falangists overshadowed that of more conservative elements, all were committed to heavy state intervention in the economy. But with the end of World War Two a shift in emphasis to the Catholic roots of the regime was underway. During the late 1950s autarky was abandoned, with the dictatorship coming to rely upon technocrats often associated with Opus Dei to shape its policies and the success of economic modernisation to ensure its legitimacy. In this first half of the book, space is also devoted to discussing the relationship between state and society. Here, too, Grugel and Rees discern stages of evolution, with struggles within the authoritarian coalition in the early 1950s giving way to protests by more autonomous social forces in the 1960s and intensifying in the Francoist state's final years.

The next three chapters are thematic, focusing on political economy, cultural developments, and international relations, respectively. The authors are keen to demonstrate the importance of diplomacy to the dictatorship. Certainly the 1953 Pact of Madrid, which leased territory to the United States to be used for bases in exchange for military and economic assistance, enhanced its international standing and domestic stability. Indeed, Grugel and Rees maintain that this "guaranteed the survival ... of the authoritarian regime" (p. 165). Imperialism in North Africa and the promotion of hispanidad were also important to it, but concrete initiatives along these lines generally achieved little. Spain was forced to give up the Protectorate in Morocco, while in Latin America there were short-lived agreements with Peron's Argentina and cultural exchanges with revolutionary Cuba of little consequence for Spanish-American relations. By the 1960s diplomacy was generally pragmatic, though of course tourism promotions still stressed Spain's essential "difference" from the Anglo-Saxon world.

In the chapters on the economy and society Grugel and Rees trace a growing dissonance between the regime's policies in these two realms. On the one hand the technocrats were committed to economic liberalisation after twenty years of stagnation, though planning and the frequently repressive "regulation" of labour persisted. On the other they hoped to preserve a hierarchical, rigid society. But this was the same society which was profoundly affected by rapid growth and urbanisation during the 1960s. The Nationalist coalition fragmented as some of its pillars, such as elements of the Catholic Church, began to distance themselves from it. In retrospect, the authors suggest, Franco "was right, and the technocrats wrong when they suggested that economic change and cultural, social and political continuity could be combined" (p. 145). But Grugel and Rees do not see the relationship between economic liberalisation and democratisation as being straightforward -- as they put it, the regime did not suddenly become obsolete. In a final, brief chapter on the transition to democracy after Franco's death they take care to stress how contingent this process was, with the attempted coup of 1981 highlighting its fragility.

This discussion of the end of the dictatorship is succinct and insightful; conversely, this reviewer felt that in a book that is avowedly introductory in nature, the origins of the regime could haw: been developed more fully. In the first chapter Grugel and Rees note the importance of the civil war experience in shaping its subsequent structures and mythology, but they move quickly to narrating the military conspiracy and outlining the balance of political forces on the Nationalist side. Readers new to the subject might have benefited at this point from just a bit more discussion of the war itself and the passions that it engendered. There are cogent overviews in Chapters Five and Six of the background to the social and religious conflicts that afflicted Spain during these years; perhaps this material could have been used at the beginning instead. Similarly, the way in which the Nationalist coalition appropriated both military and religious language to present its cause as a crusade is analysed, but Grugel and Rees make little use of direct quotation at a point where this might be useful in illustrating its virulent outlook to the uninitiated.

These minor criticisms notwithstanding, Franco's Spain is a lucid guide to many of the regime's policies. It is perceptive about the complexities of statesociety relations under dictatorships, and will serve as a very good introduction to the subject.

Sean Kennedy

University of New Brunswick