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De-Thawing Democracy

The Decline of Political Party Collaboration in Spain (1977 to 2004)

Bentley College

Do transitions by pact necessarily depress the level of competition or contestation (substantively and behaviorally) across political parties in the subsequent democracy? This article demonstrates—through a study of deputy votes in the Spanish Congress of Deputies between 1977 and 2004—that the Spanish transition by pact initially depressed the degree of competition across political parties, as democratization literature hypothesizes. However, it also shows that collaboration precipitously declined within 5 years of the transition and aside from a one-time increase, progressively declined during the 27-year period. The data also demonstrate that substantive policy received significantly less cross-party support than legislation on the "rules of the game" after 1993. These findings provide the foundation for the argument that transitions by pact do not necessarily preclude more competitive and representative democratic politics as initially feared.

Key Words: democratization • pact • political parties • political elites • Spain

Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 38, No. 9, 1079-1103 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0010414005275235


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