{"title":"Two-bloc Logic, Polarisation and Coalition Government: The November 2019 General Election in Spain","authors":"Pablo Simon","doi":"10.1080/13608746.2020.1857085","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article focuses on the role played by polarisation in the Spanish party system. It first analyses the failure in the attempts to form a government after the 28 April 2019 general election in Spain. It shows how polarisation and short-term calculations made government formation impossible and led to a new general election in November that year. The article also describes how prior to the electoral campaign, the exhumation of Francisco Franco’s body and the riots in Catalonia, which added to the saliency of territorial conflict, fostered votes for the radical right-wing party Vox. It will also be shown how the election results led to a fragmented and more polarised Congress. Finally, the article discusses the formation of the first minority coalition government in the recent democratic history of Spain – one made up of the PSOE and UP – its structure and its potential implications for the Spanish party system.","PeriodicalId":47304,"journal":{"name":"South European Society and Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"13","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South European Society and Politics","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2020.1857085","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLITICAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 13
Abstract
ABSTRACT This article focuses on the role played by polarisation in the Spanish party system. It first analyses the failure in the attempts to form a government after the 28 April 2019 general election in Spain. It shows how polarisation and short-term calculations made government formation impossible and led to a new general election in November that year. The article also describes how prior to the electoral campaign, the exhumation of Francisco Franco’s body and the riots in Catalonia, which added to the saliency of territorial conflict, fostered votes for the radical right-wing party Vox. It will also be shown how the election results led to a fragmented and more polarised Congress. Finally, the article discusses the formation of the first minority coalition government in the recent democratic history of Spain – one made up of the PSOE and UP – its structure and its potential implications for the Spanish party system.
期刊介绍:
A leading point of reference for scholars of Southern Europe, South European Society and Politics promotes both comparative and inter-disciplinary analyses, as well as offering innovative single county and sub-national studies. The journal acts as a forum for social, economic, cultural, contemporary historical and political approaches to research on the region, and is particularly keen to sponsor policy–focused studies in all these disciplines. The journal publishes research articles; South European Atlas with election reports and articles on other subjects of topical interest, and an extensive book reviews section, including both review articles and individual book reviews.