What’s wrong with Spain? Historically, central Spain was politically strong, while the periphery had the economic power, especially Catalonia and the Basque Country. This oddity --Madrid only became a global capital following the privatisation of state-owned firms, once Spain had become a democracy-- is one of the reasons behind the frustration of the Spanish nation, which has never fully managed to build a French-style, homogenous nation-state.
Spain’s recent history saw an internationally acceptable regime emerge from the political Transition. This regime has become stuck and complacent and it does not allow us to see how life has moved far ahead of the institutions.
The old francoist order went up in flames only after becoming a soulless superstructure, unable to keep up with society. This was an exciting but scary time, a time when democracy was built on a pact that protected the interests of the francoist elites, with everyone obsessing about stability. Democracy could not become yet another ephemeral event.
When the PSOE came to office, it consolidated the system and a bipartisan regime was born resting on two very hierarchical political parties --all internal dissent was heavily penalised-- where the executive branch dominated over the other powers in a rigidly opaque state. Regional devolution, the answer to the Catalan and Basque demands, gave rise to bubbles of regional power, a postmodern version of the ever-present political bossmen.
This system was already exhausted by 2008. The recession has merely made it apparent. The shroud of opacity has fallen, only to reveal a reality made up of inequality, social divide, corruption, territorial crisis and institutions that refuse to change because they are incapable of recognising the urgent need of reform. That is why trust is broken and projects that demand a true redistribution of power have taken centre stage, reflected in social movements and their political emanations or in the social and political pro-independence drive.
Spain’s powers have reacted by entrenching themselves in the status quo, refusing to see that their institutions have lost their soul. Today, the deep malaise of Spain is the refusal of her elites to make the necessary changes without delay.