The subject of the discussion below refers to the political situation in present-day Spain in the context of a broad systemic crisis (economic, political, values, leadership, discourse etc.). Moreover, it covers the media’s impact on the administrating elite who are also subject to the crisis. Th e research questions concern the nature of the interactions among the trifecta of political actors, the media and public opinion. The fundamental question is to what extent the crisis of political elites is a result of systemic dysfunction (a so called de-democratisation of political life) or an eff ect of the media’s activities, which have disclosed and publicised some of the dysfunctions of the above elites. This article will attempt to verify the hypothesis of the aforementioned de-democratisation process in Spain, the extent of the media presence in political life, and the mediatisation of their politics.

Polish and Spanish way of democratisations seems to be similar; however, nowadays Spanish government has to face up to the economic crisis. The main idea of the article is to compare political systems, especially how the local government invests money in so-called tourist attractions. As well as being useless, many of those objects are too expensive to be maintained. It is worth mentioning that some Polish local governments try to implement Spanish ideas (so-called “Bilbao effect”) to their environment, which is not only risky, but also unsuccessful.

  The objective of this article is to analyse the impact of the Spanish democratic transformation on its multilateral relations. It analyses the strategies of Spanish governments in the transformation era and the process of accession to NATO, the Council of Europe and the European Communities. Source analysis and criticism methods (applied mostly to Spanish- -language texts), as well as comparative analysis were employed for the needs of this article.
  Based on her research, the author concludes that changes to Spanish foreign policy were evolutionary in nature. Therefore, it took Spain several years to regain the full confidence of its partners. Before any breakthrough changes could occur in the multilateral dimension, Spain needed to normalise its bilateral relations.
  The democratic elections conducted on the 15th of June 1977 in Spain was the breakthrough without which no accession to any important international organisation could ever happen. As the event clinched the state’s democratisation, it paved the way for Spain to join soon the Council of Europe. The accession process for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was more complex. The Spanish political scene was divided in that matter. Spain’s accession to the European Communities was the longest process. It was subject not only to the state’s democratisation progress but also to economic issues.

During the last decade the separatist activities of the Catalan nationalists have intensified. Despite the enactment of the Statute of Autonomy in 2006, extending the existing autonomy of the Autonomous Community, Catalonia’s governing political parties strived for total independence. In view of the consistent attitude of the central government in Madrid refusing any concessions on the extension of autonomy or independence, the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (Generalitat) appealed to the institutions of direct democracy, calling twice for a Catalan referendum on independence. In both cases, the Spanish Constitutional Court declared the referendum unlawful. In spite of this, Catalonia declared independence after the referendum of October 1st, 2017, although the effects of the declaration were also suspended – a situation so far unknown to law.

The paper focuses on the analysis of recent family policies on selected programs and actions in Poland and Spain. The analysis was made on the basis of a comparison of three spheres of supporting the families in both countries: financial support, institutional support and conditions of parental leaves. The main data sources came from the OECD and Ministries in Poland and Spain. Results show that there are differences between Poland and Spain in terms of funds assigned to the support of families and children, in terms of the length of maternity and paternity leaves, the level and types of fi nancial support, and also the types of institutional support.

Flags and coats of arms are graphic state symbols. They define national and regional identity. State and regional graphic symbols have a particularly important place in legal acts in Spain. Symbols of each autonomous community are listed in their statutes. Most of them refer to the rich historical and cultural tradition of the region. In only a few cases, it was necessary to create flags or coat of arms in connection with the establishment of an autonomous community in the early 1980s.

The paper tries to be a  critical analysis of and a  theoretical reflection on minority students: gifted children in the Spanish education system. To carry out this study and achieve the objectives set up, we took into account a qualitative methodology, framed within the constructivist paradigm in the social sciences. Being a gifted child in Spain is a problem because gifted children are not being adequately addressed, as the Ministry of Education recognizes. An objective analysis of the current situation can become a way of changing it. In addition, we have to pay attention to the principles and rights of the awareness of diversity.

The dramatic events taking place in 2017 resulted in an unprecedented intervention of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain in the duties of the authorities of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. The procedure for the fulfilment of constitutional obligations of the authorities of one of the seventeen Autonomous Communities, that make up Spain, was introduced for the first time in history. The sources of this situation should be sought in the conflict between Barcelona and Madrid, which has been growing for a decade, and reached its peak with the Spanish Government’s failure to recognize the independence referendum and the attempt to secede by the Catalan authorities. The situation showed the need to reform the Spanish constitutional system, in particular as regards the rights and obligations of Autonomous Communities.

Artykuł prezentuje uwarunkowania strategii bezpieczeństwa Hiszpanii wobec Sahelu Zachodniego, szczególnie Mali, Mauretanii i Nigru. Przedstawia przesłanki oraz charakter realizacji hiszpańskich misji wojskowo-szkoleniowych i policyjnych w tym regionie Afryki. Rozważania zawarte w analizie wskazują na transnarodowy aspekt zagrożeń płynących ze strony ekstremizmu dżihadystycznego, pozostającego tak często w symbiozie ze zorganizowaną przestępczością, czerpiącą profity z nielegalnej migracji, handlu bronią i substancjami psychoaktywnymi. Zależności te są widoczne w odniesieniu do wielu państw afrykańskich, m.in. obszaru Sahelu. Artykuł podejmuje refleksję nad znaczeniem sytuacji tego regionu dla bezpieczeństwa południowej flanki Unii Europejskiej, a zarazem wyszczególnia przedsięwzięcia i projekty tam realizowane przez państwa Europy Południowo-Zachodniej (Hiszpanię, Francję i Włochy).

From Sicily to Spain, from Spain to Sicily: Leonardo Sciascia as a Travel Writer

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War represented a pivotal moment in Leonardo Sciascia’s ideological development, as it pushed him towards an anti-fascist passion that would make him an engagé writer over the years. In fact, the news of Lorca’s assassination and Ortega y Gasset’s volumes had a lasting influence on the writer: he began to read Spanish and about the Spanish world, thus discovering Spain and its language, literature, and culture. In fact, it was a rediscovery, since, in the eyes of the Sicilian author, the common Arab domination and the long Spanish hegemony in Sicily had already connected the island and the peninsula in an intricate web of “similarities.” The present article aims to examine the distinctness of Sciascia’s Sicilian-Spanish imaginary that is present in the reports that he published after his numerous trips to the Iberian land starting in the 1950s. After having often been dismissed as paraliterary, those works will be analysed as travel writing so as to better appreciate them. Ore di Spagna, the volume that collects most of those journalistic articles, will be considered as one of the best examples of reporting in the 20th century, far beyond the boundaries of essay production.

Although the current Constitution of 1978 does not include the right to a legislative veto among royal prerogatives, this institution has a rich tradition in Spanish constitutionalism. In the 19th century, despite the clash between conservative and liberal ideas, the King almost continuously had the right to refuse to sanction law projects. Only the political changes of the 20th century finally deprived the monarch of the right to intervene in the legislative process. However, under the current Constitution, all laws must be sanctioned by the King, which often causes political and legal controversy.

Spain is one of the countries which is facing a lot of nationalist sentiments and aspirations of certain autonomous communities seeking if not for sovereignty, then at least for greater autonomy or a federal system. This paper aims at investigating the case of Catalonia by examining the roots of Catalan nationalism, its main determinants and drivers for change. It also explains the reasons for evolution of the accompanying factors and claims that Catalan nationalism is civic and not ethnic in nature. Its main factors are economic and cultural as well as ideological ones, built on the common identity shaped by cultural and religious heritage. Till the crisis of 2007/2008, Catalan nationalism was not violent – neither in actions nor in its claims. Deterioration of the economic situation and social frustration made it easier for politicians to use the nationalist argument to win a political battle. It resulted in the revival of stronger nationalist sentiments and a desire for self-determination.

The paper’s main research aim is to verify the assumption that the way the Spanish Constitution was amended in 2011 means a rupture with the over 40-year-old political principle of including all parties represented in the Cortes Generales in this process. It is also indicated what disruptions it might cause in the operation of the Spanish political system. The source material selected for analysis consists of Spanish official journals and press from 2011. The applied research methods are the legal-institutional analysis and the comparative approach.

Living in a cohabitation union is a more and more popular way of life in the contemporary societies. Changes in family behaviour and formation, such as increases in births outside of marriage, age at first marriage, and divorce have occurred in western countries with different paces and intensity as the elements of Second Demographic Transition (SDT). The aim of the article is to investigate the main determinants which influence attitudes towards living in a cohabitation union in two catholic countries: Spain and Poland. Using the European Social Survey conducted in Poland and Spain in two different moments 2006 and 2018, we carried out ordinal regression models in order to confirm which variables affect more the choice of this union. The results showed that educational level, placement on the left-right scale and religion are the prevailing predictors in both countries and both periods of time, but with different intensities, being greater for the Polish case.

During the last 200 years, the school and the educational system in Spain have experienced an explosion of ideas, approaches, trends, models and pedagogical currents which proclaim themselves as alternative or innovative. In this article, we are going to compare the alternative models and practices with the traditional educational model. We are going to start with a conceptualization of traditional pedagogy and the alternative models which have been presented in Spain in recent years. The conclusions of the study are going to show the relevance of the alternative educational practices; a limited relevance, which is more retro than neo; a recovery of the pedagogical memory and an updating more than an innovation.

Corrida the toros is considered a symbol of Spain. Corrida as a spectacle similar to a theatre spectacle is subject to rules. All elements of the spectacle, stages as well as tools used during corrida fall under strict rules, the same applies to the costumes worn by “actors” taking part in the corrida. Traje de luces – a lucent costume, which next to the bull itself is regarded as the most recognisable symbol of corrida. Matador’s outfit is considered as a piece of art by ones, others will see it as a ostentatious costume. What is it in reality? The answer to this question is not easy and obvious. The delicate handwork and fivestar materials position the costume of the matador as a work of art; however, garish colouring and exaggerated embellishments seem rather gaudy. Traje de luces should be always considered in a wider context, because only in that case its symbolism and meaning can be actually interpreted. Outside the corrida de toros the bright costume of the matador is only a colourful outfit, however in its natural environment, that is on the arena, it gains a completely different meaning. In this article, I will introduce various points of view on the topic.

Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) Projects to Amend the 1978 Spanish Constitution

The main research objective of the study is to find an answer to the question: what are the main assumptions of the political reform proposed by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español – PSOE) regarding the amendment of the Spanish constitution of 1978? The study was carried out by implementation of the method of qualitative data analysis and regarded selected legal acts and PSOE party documents. The time frame of the study was set for the years 2004–2021. The initial caesura is justified by the electoral victory of PSOE at 2004. The final turning point is marked by the debates of the 40th PSOE Congress, held between October 15 and 17, 2021 in Valencia.

Rodowód współczesnego administracyjnego podziału terytorialnego Hiszpanii. Sprawa municypiów i prowincji

Konstytucjonaliści hiszpańscy są zgodni, że współczesna organizacja terytorialna państwa wymaga pilnych reform. Mapa administracyjna państwa oparta na tradycyjnych jednostkach terytorialnych: municypiach i prowincjach nie wytrzymuje zderzenia ze współczesnymi wymaganiami „państwa autonomii”, jak zwykło nazywać się obecną Hiszpanię. O ile wspólnoty autonomiczne są podmiotami w miarę świeżymi, o tyle zarówno municypia, jak i prowincje sięgają swoimi korzeniami Średniowiecza, a nawet okresów wcześniejszych. Stąd próby forsowania nowych administracyjnych jednostek podziału terytorialnego, które nie zostały uwzględnione we współczesnej Konstytucji lub próby wskrzeszenia dawnych jednostek przystosowanych w większy lub mniejszy sposób do we współczesnym modelu państwa. Niniejszy artykuł przybliża rodowód poszczególnych jednostek terytorialnych, ukazując jak bardzo historia i tradycja wpływa na współczesny podział administracyjny państwa.

Aḥmad al-Kardūdī and His Journey to Spain (1885). Political and Cultural Dimensions

The article is devoted to Aḥmad al-Kardūdī, a Moroccan official in the second half of the nineteenth century, and his state and diplomatic activities, with particular emphasis on the account he wrote for Sultan Al-Ḥasan I (ruled 1873–1894) from the 1885 expedition to Spain, which had been published for the first time in 1963 under the title At-Tuḥfa as-saniyya li-al-Ḥaḍra al- Ḥasaniyya bi-al-Mamlaka al-Iṣbanyūliyya [Shining Gift for His Majesty Al- Ḥasan about the Kingdom of Spain]. This report often is included into Arab travel literature. It is not only a report on the tasks that the ruler set before the diplomatic mission of which Al-Kardūdī was a member, but also an image of the social and political consciousness of Moroccan elites associated with power of the West in times of active attempt at reforms undertaken by the ruler. Unfortunately, these attempts had little effect. The delegation was received in audience by Regent Maria Krystyna, also visited the capital of Spain and the most important Andalusian cities, but the author himself, probably on the orders of the Sultan, was also very interested in the military achievements of the Spaniards. The Gift, written in rhyming and rhythmic prose, can be treated as a literary work (although the author probably did not intend to), and simultaneously an example of an original, official, court document in the shape of a diplomatic report addressed to the ruler.

Privileging of Government Draft Laws in the Spanish Legislative Process

In the article the author identifies the normative arguments as well as the arguments from the constitutional practice justifying the axiom contained in Article 89 of the Spanish Constitution that government draft laws are privileged at the stage of exercising the legislative initiative by constitutionally authorised entities. This allows us to conclude that the thesis of privileging government draft laws finds support in other constitutional provisions and in the provisions of the standing orders of both parliamentary chambers at the stage of initiating legislative proceedings, which allows the Government to have a real influence on the scope of the legislative matter considered by the Cortes Generales.