Democracy in Spain and Greece

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the transition into democracies that occurred in both Spain and Greece starting in the 1970s and continuing on through the subsequent decades. It looks at how both of these countries endured similar processes in overthrowing the existing authoritarian regimes in order to consolidate political power in democratic institutions. It also examines how although these common factors were far-reaching, they included similar historical backgrounds, similar social forces calling for the change, and comparable economic problems.

From the Paper:

"The toppling of authoritarian regimes and the promotion of democracies throughout the world has become big business for politicians in the West. Politicians in the United States, especially, have capitalized on the public's distaste and fear of dictatorships. This political momentum has fostered such recent moves as military intervention in Iraq and diplomatic entreaties towards North Korea. The cause is effectively the same. The West is overly obsessed with pressuring its democratic ideals upon the rest of the world no matter the existence of the appropriate political infrastructure. Without a doubt, this could lead to a series of political nightmares in the very near future. Nonetheless, democratization can occur, especially if politicians heed what has occurred in the past and learn from those lessons. "

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