Things will have to change? Analysing the Spanish transition to democracy from an elite perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID6252947
AuthorsJavier Padilla (0000-0003-4026-9795, Department of Political Science, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, USA, corresponding author), Bernardino Leon-Reyes (0000-0002-8236-235X, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris), Inés Echevarría (University of Oxford), Ines Nicole Echevarria (Oxford Policy Management), Erick Padilla-Galviz (0000-0002-5490-8079, Universitat de Barcelona), Carles Pamies (0000-0003-4993-2178, Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (CEE), Sciences Po, Paris, France), Beatriz Valero De Urquía (University of Cambridge)
Year2025
Volume32
Issue3
Pages788-809
Publication date2025-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510347.2024.2418996
OpenAlexW4405192418
LanguageEN
References cited40

Authoritarian elites may play an essential role in transitioning democracies, but little is known about the fate of these elites beyond that of the top leaders. This article offers the first panel-data study of authoritarian elites in a transitional democracy. We focus on Spain, a paradigmatic case of successful democratization from above, and rely on an original dataset to measure quantitatively the professional careers of more than 600 members of the Francoist elites in Spain. We have measured the relative importance of each job that members of Francoist elites had before and after the democratization process, gathering information on more than 5,400 jobs over 50 years. Our results suggest a positive relationship between the individual’s position during the dictatorship and the democracy. While there was a change in the importance of Francoist political elites after the transition, economic elites were barely affected by the transition to democracy. For that reason, natural death and retirement were the most common reasons behind their disappearance from the spheres of power

Art · Democracy · Elite · Epistemology · Law and economics · Perspective (graphical · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Transition (genetics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Philosophy · Politics and Society in Latin America · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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