Transición En España, Sudáfrica y Hungría

When a country changes from one political system to another, it should have several factors to explain this transformation. Political elites in power do not decide to initiate a process of transition without any reason, and opposition forces must also have some incentives that lead them to work with their political enemies in this change. This essay is an attempt of explanation about why theSpanish, South African and Hungarian governments took the decision to bet on democracy and why opposition collaborate in this process. Some events and dates will be mentioned in the next pages because they are necessary to understand the transitions in these countries.
The Spanish Civil War established a regime that deepened the division between victors and vanquished and did not seek any kind ofreconciliation (Tussel, 2007; 20). In fact, Franco’s regime carried out a great persecution against its enemies, executing many of them and forcing many others into exile during the whole dictatorship.
Moreover, the country took almost two decades to recover economically from the war. This trend was reversed in the sixties when a group of technocrats of the Opus Dei became part of the Governmentand implemented a series of economic measures and administrative changes which put Spain on the path of markets economies (Carr & Fusi, 1979: 54-6). The main goal of this new policy was to try to close Spain to the idea of Europe that was developing in those years, because of the belief that in Europe was the key of national problems (Pérez-Díaz, 1993). This partial economic liberalization of theregime was proved to be essential to create a stronger civil society: the population growth plus the booming of the services sector, specially the tourism industry, allowed a rural migration to the city and a deep transformation in the agricultural structures, as the same time than an important group of industrial proletariats appeared. Thus, the regime initiated the first steps to opening up theauthoritarian system unconsciously.
The international crisis of 1973 had very negative effects in Spain, causing the transition after Franco’s death had to occur in the worst economic times since the decade of the fifties (Tussel, 2007: 318). But the new Spanish civil society, which was beginning to wake up after nearly forty years of dictatorship and the critical situation of the country could notwait for the change of the political system.
It is important to stress that among most of the agents involved in the Transition had a strong desire to avoid a bloody conflict. Many of these actors that played a vital role in the process formed part of the Franco regime. Among them, we will focus on two notable personalities who had a great importance in the direction of events as were King JuanCarlos and Adolfo Suárez. The situation of the King Juan Carlos was complex: on the one hand, he had the head of State thanks to the appointment of the dictator, but a lot of francoists did not trust him. On the other hand, the center did not take into consideration and the left wing saw him as a puppet of the right and as a continuation of the regime. King Juan Carlos, who did not followFranco’s plans, was able to appreciate that the legitimacy of his position was in doubt by a large sector of Spanish society. Given the circumstances, Franco’s heir had the political vision to initiate the necessary procedures for the conversion to a democratic system; even knowing that in this system would come onto the stage those political forces with a strong anti-monarchical ideology, such as theSocialist Party or the Communist Party.
King Juan Carlos knew so that the process of political reform succeeded, it was necessary people with strong democratic convictions within the Government in order to support the project. That is the reason why King Juan Carlos decided to replace a hardliner like Carlos Arias Navarro as Prime Minister by an inexperienced Adolfo Suárez, until then Minister...