Rethinking democratisation in Spain, Greece and Portugal

The monograph entitled Rethinking Democratisation in Spain, Greece and Portugal examines the dialectics between the present and the past, namely, regarding the transitions from dictatorship to democracy in Spain, Greece and Portugal from the 1970s to the era of crisis that emerged in 2008. In so doing, the volume ’ s various chapters primarily address how the 2008 crisis a ff ected the memories of democratization and Europeanization. Moreover, several chapters explore the signi fi cance of the political cultures that emerged during these transitions for political debates in subsequent decades. In investigating those topics, the volume is divided into three parts. Part One explores con fl -icting memories of transition, as a ff ected by the crisis since 2008. Carmina Gustrán and Alejan-dro Quiroga argue that a “ benevolent ” reading of the transition from dictatorship to democracy remains hegemonic in Spain. However, the recession era saw the emergence of a growing popular narrative in this country that spanned academic, political and cultural realms and highlighted gaps in the nation ’ s process of democratization. Similarly, in analysing both Spain and Greece, Kostis Kornetis shows that the crisis “ produced a cognitive shock ” , which facilitated reconsiderations of the past, including the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Filipa Raimundo and Claudia Generoso de Almeida trace the importance of di ff erent moments of the Portuguese Revolution that shaped ideological divisions in the nation even up to the 2010s. In this vein, these authors depict some political parties as “ April-warriors ” , namely, those that praise the collapse of the authoritarian regime