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Forty Years From Fascism: Democratic Constitutionalism And The Spanish Model Of National Transformation, Eric C. Christiansen

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This Article seeks to understand and evaluate core elements of the past promise and present reality of Spain’s transformation from Francoist dictatorship to modern European democracy. It does this by investigating the role of the 1978 Constitution and the distinctive Spanish Model of relatively peaceful constitutional transformation in facilitating the key legal elements of Spain’s transition to democracy. Following a review of important historical developments related to Spanish constitutionalism in Part I, this Article scrutinizes the process by which Spain transitioned to democracy in the 1970s. Part II focuses particularly on the dominant characteristics of the Spanish Model, which facilitated …