Spain at the Beginning of 21st Century/Historical and political context

Flag of Spain

Coat of arms of Spain

Following the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco until his death in 1975, Spain underwent a transition to democracy, which resulted in the 1978 Constitution. This Constitution, which establishes a parliamentary monarchy as the form of government and structures the Spanish territory into a series of autonomous communities, with their own self-government, was the one in force in Spain at the beginning of the 21st century (and is still today, as of 2024).

The king of Spain in the first decade of the 21st century was Juan Carlos I, while 2 prime ministers or presidents of the government (José María Aznar, of the People's Party, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) succeeded each other. Other important political parties during this period were United Left, and the various nationalist parties in several autonomous communities (Convergència i Unió and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in Catalonia, Basque Nationalist Party in the Basque Country, or Bloque Nacionalista Galego in Galicia).

From 2008 onwards, Spain was affected by a severe economic crisis and a series of political corruption cases, which marked the final part of this period.