The Spanish socialists in power: thirteen years of economic policy

Recio, Albert; Roca, Jordi

doi:10.1093/oxrep/14.1.139

Cited by 28 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…But the government also lowered the maximum unemployment benefit and introduced labor market deregulation by introducing temporary contracts (Gutiérrez and Guillén, 2000). In conclusion, the 1984 reforms were generally not expansionary, and solely benefited important electoral groups (mostly agricultural workers in Andalucia and Extremadura; Recio and Roca, 1998). In terms of employment regulation it heralded the first signs of a neoliberal approach.…”

Section: Spain: Immediate Moderationmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Since the economy was starting to pick up, the unions felt it was time for real social democratic policies (Share, 1988). The group of supporters around Alfonse Guerra (the Guerristas) had disapproved of the alienation between the PSOE and the UGT and fears of electoral reprisals eventually turned the tide within the party (Recio and Roca, 1998).…”

Section: Spain: Immediate Moderationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…González led the PSOE from 1974 to 1997. His policies are generally regarded as neoliberal (Share, 1988; Recio and Roca, 1998). The policies generally benefited the elderly and agricultural workers at the expense of younger workers, and keeping spending down appealed to centrist and right-wing voters.…”

Section: Spain: Immediate Moderationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Will to power? Intra-party conflict in social democratic parties and the choice for neoliberal policies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain (1980–2010)

Marx

Schumacher

2012

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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Why do social democrats choose neoliberal labor market policies? Since social democrats are typically punished for welfare state retrenchment and because these policies do not equate well with social democratic egalitarian principles, it is difficult to see what they gain from it. We argue that, depending on the intra-party balance of power between activists and leaders, some parties are office-seeking, whereas others are policy-seeking. This behavioral difference explains why some parties are responsive to environmental incentives such as the economy and public opinion (office-seeking parties) and others are responsive to policy-motivated activists (policy-seeking parties). Using three case studies of social democratic parties (Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) in the period 1980–2010, we analyze when and why these parties introduced neoliberal reforms. The study shows that office-seeking parties introduce neoliberal measures if the risk of losing votes due to an underperforming economy becomes larger than the risk of losing votes due to the mobilization of unions and opposition parties. Policy-seeking social democrats retain a social democratic ideology, unless prolonged failure to win office empowers pragmatic leaders to push through office-seeking strategies.

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Section: Spain: Immediate Moderationmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Spain: Immediate Moderationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Will to power? Intra-party conflict in social democratic parties and the choice for neoliberal policies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain (1980–2010)

Marx

Schumacher

2012

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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“…Due to its previous productive specialization in manufactures of medium-to-low technological content, mostly directed towards satisfying a highly protected internal market, Spanish capital was affected by strong overaccumulation problems by the early 1980s (Etxezarreta 1991; Nieto 2006). Once the transition towards a parliamentary democratic regime was completed with the accession of the Socialist Party to office in 1982, a rigorous orthodox program aimed at recovering capitalist profitability was implemented, in the expectation that a sustained attack on labor conditions and remuneration could help recover previous profit margins (Albarracín 1991; Recio and Roca 1998).…”

Section: A “Mediterranean” Liberal Ssa: the Case Of Spanish mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Contradictory Evolution of “Mediterranean” Neoliberalism in Spain, 1995–2008

Araújo

2020

Review of Radical Political Economics

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This paper uses social structures of accumulation theory in combination with Ernesto Laclau’s discourse theory in order to analyze the institutional mechanisms that sustained the long economic expansion of the Spanish economy between 1995 and 2008. Productive deficiencies endogenously gave way to several trends that, despite displaying a highly contradictory character when considered in isolation, managed to coalesce into a relatively coherent whole for more than a decade, namely, a massive housing bubble, an explosion of private debt in the face of real wage stagnation, and family economies being submitted to increasing strains. Moreover, their joint occurrence prevented their inherently conflictive nature from acquiring a political expression liable to undo the institutional structure itself, so that a social order was successfully reproduced throughout the whole expansion phase.

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“…González Temprano (1998), for example, argues that in Spain, the increasing "external openness and the lesser regulation have decisively pushed the modernization and restructuring of the productive system" (p. 17). Even scholars more critical of PSOE's policy orientation tend to underscore its overall unmistakably neoliberal character (Pérez, 1997(Pérez, , 1999Recio & Roca, 1998;Royo, 2000). Pérez's (1997Pérez's ( , 1999 work is indispensable for assessing contemporary Spanish political economy in general and the accommodation of domestic banking interests under PSOE rule in particular.…”

Section: Assessing a Developmental Success: Economic Growth And Intermentioning

confidence: 99%

Revamping the Weak, Protecting the Strong, and Managing Privatization

Etchemendy

2004

Comparative Political Studies

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Conventional wisdom holds that liberal economic policy and a hasty integration into the European Union is the central feature of Spain's successful adaptation to the globalization wave. This study argues that a set of illiberal and protectionist policies are crucial to understanding the Spanish transformation. Spain's reorganization of its economy displayed three broad components: the revamping of industrial sectors from above; the targeted protection granted to the energy, banking, and telecommunications sectors; and a defined strategy of privatization that prevented any major international player from taking part in a given business. The author argues that this statist model of market transition in Spain was decisively shaped by two concrete features of the Spanish political economy as it unfolded under the import substitution industrialization model: the organizational and economic weakness of the domestic industrial bourgeoisie and the comparatively entrenched position of financial capital and its energy-controlled companies.

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The Spanish socialists in power: thirteen years of economic policy

Cited by 28 publications

References 3 publications

Will to power? Intra-party conflict in social democratic parties and the choice for neoliberal policies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain (1980–2010)

Will to power? Intra-party conflict in social democratic parties and the choice for neoliberal policies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain (1980–2010)

The Contradictory Evolution of “Mediterranean” Neoliberalism in Spain, 1995–2008

Revamping the Weak, Protecting the Strong, and Managing Privatization

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