Abstract
Hamilton M Stapell, Remaking Madrid: Culture, Politics, and Identity after Franco, Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2010; 276 pp., 9 tables; 9780230106413, £58.00 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Aránzazu Ascunce, University of Hawaii, USA
Hamilton M. Stapell brings transparency to the early years of Spain’s transition to democracy immediately following General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship with his focus on the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Remaking Madrid: Culture, Politics, and Identity after Franco, helps fill a void in the lack of research on post-1978 Spanish nationalism available in English. The author explains how Madrid’s local and regional identity today is the direct result of an explicit political plan during the 1980s.
For a long time Madrid and Spain’s identity have been considered as one and the same. This book clearly marks a difference between Madrid’s regional and Spain’s national identity transformation processes after Franco. One of the book’s most valuable discussions is that of Madrid’s local and regional identity from a political and cultural point of view. This official plan consisted of the creation of a new geographically-based identity different from that of the Spanish nation state. According to the author, the democratic transformation project in Madrid was unique when compared to that of other Autonomous Communities like Catalonia and the Basque Country. First and foremost, the Madrid project was based on the promotion of ‘inclusive civic identity’ based on culture rather than ethnic difference.
The significance of this book is that it calls for specific political action. The author points to an alternative for the consolidation of democracy in Spain modelled on the Madrid project, a process which has largely been either overlooked or forgotten. His book aims to ensure that the democratization of the Madrid project will be remembered, while he recommends that it is seriously reconsidered as an alternative democratic model for the rest of Spain, and suggests that it could be reapplied today. Specifically, the author deals with the transformation of Madrid’s identity between 1979 and 1986. He defines key elements of the plan such as instilling civic pride, educating the citizenry, restoring public confidence, and promoting civic engagement. This transformation that broke with the authoritarian past was a top-down process based on democratic habits and institutional agencies. During the 1980s, politicians in Madrid capitalized on the region’s resources including its young and heterogeneous population to carry out their project. According to the author, these citizens changed from being the ‘subject of dictatorship to active participants’ in the democratic transition.
The intended audience of the author may or may not know much about Spain. He clearly defines terms, explains systems, repeats names, sparingly uses acronyms, and makes frequent clarifications in his notes. His translations from English to Spanish read nicely. His sources are archival material, sociological data and the press. He considers artefacts of the capital’s cultural patrimony, such as monuments, green spaces and festivals. He addresses the transformation of the Madrid plan at the local, regional and national levels. His notes are informative and lead to a large body of sources for further consideration. The style of writing is interpretive and analytical, and the author’s in-depth analysis of the subject is intended for a scholarly group, but it is also appropriate for the general public. The author emphasizes political history and pays attention to social and cultural history. This book is especially helpful to those approaching Spain’s transition to democracy from a variety of disciplines and to those interested in the political background of Madrid’s cultural revolution known as la movida madrileña.
Stapell’s concluding words are timely given the current crisis and upcoming general elections: ‘The national leadership of the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party] was seduced by Europeanization, neoliberalism, and material prosperity. Ultimately, the result was corruption, less social equality, decreased mobilization, and the willingness to favour stability and economic growth at almost any cost’ (199). The author convincingly claims that there is another type of socialism available for Spain that has been ignored or forgotten. This alternative is the transformation of the Madrid project, which consisted of ‘peaceful coexistence and active cultural participation’ among its citizens.
One of the issues that arose out of my reading was the author’s description of Spain and Madrid’s transformation as being complete. The democratization process in Madrid and Spain is still in progress. Madrid’s regional government has insisted on a top-down approach and its citizens are not pleased. Since 15 May 2011, the people of Spain have been reclaiming public spaces to protest against what they feel is a false democracy. The citizens of Madrid, and of many other cities in Spain, do not believe they are living in a truly democratic society. They have lost faith in the political and economic systems. For this very reason Stapell’s book is instrumental in remaking the future of Spain’s still young democracy.