3 - The Limits to Spanish Modernization, 1850–1936

Summary

Economic development saw Spanish per capita income double between the 1870s and 1930s, and the 1876 Constitution provided half a century of political stability. However, despite universal male suffrage being granted in 1890, there were no mass political parties and voters could not change governments, while labour organizations were often banned and poverty widespread, especially among the landless workers of the south. In fact, political stability came at a high cost, as local elites were able to use central government funds to build and consolidate their clientelistic networks. Spain’s neutrality during the First World War also resulted in limited demands to increase state capacity. Indeed, the combination of weak party development and weak state capacity in 1931 goes a long way to explaining why the democratic experiment of the Second Republic would fail. Unfulfilled expectations of government land and labour market reforms disillusioned many, leading to a growing rejection of liberal democracy.