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IT WAS PERSONAL: POLITICS AND MILITARY PROMOTIONS IN THE SECOND SPANISH REPUBLIC (1931–1936)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2019

Álvaro La Parra-Pérez
Álvaro La Parra-Pérez*
Affiliation:
Weber State Universitya
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Abstract

One key step in the process of development is the transition from the personalistic rules and privileges that characterise developing societies to open access orders and rational–legal bureaucracies sustaining impersonal rules. This article uses a micro-data set of Spanish officers to study the politicisation of the army during the Second Republic (1931–1939) taking Franco's Africanist faction as the case study. The military reforms during 1931–1933 increased the impersonality of rules determining the promotion of officers, but executive discretionary powers persisted. The results suggest that changes in the government affected the dynamics of the army. Under conservative governments (1934–1935), Africanists were promoted more rapidly. Centre-left governments during the period of 1931–1933 did not systematically promote Africanists differently, but the revision of promotions in 1933 slowed their careers. The politicisation of the army was one of the factors contributing to the military coup that started the Spanish Civil War.

Resumen

RESUMEN

Un paso clave para el desarrollo es la transición de las reglas personales y los privilegios que caracterizan a las sociedades en vías de desarrollo a las reglas impersonales que rigen los órdenes de acceso abierto y sus burocracias racional-legales. Este artículo estudia la politización del ejército español durante la Segunda República (1931–1939) utilizando información individual para los oficiales en activo durante la República y centrándose en el caso de la facción africanista. Las reformas militares entre 1931 y 1933 aumentaron la impersonalidad de las reglas para el ascenso de los oficiales, pero el poder discrecional del ejecutivo perduró. Los resultados sugieren que la dinámica del ejército se vio influida por los cambios en el gobierno. Bajo gobiernos conservadores (1934–1935), los africanistas gozaron de más promociones. Los gobiernos de centro-izquierda entre 1931 y 1933 no promocionaron sistemáticamente a los africanistas de manera distinta, pero la revisión de promociones en 1933 ralentizó sus carreras. La politización del ejército fue uno de los factores que contribuyó al estallido de la Guerra Civil.

Keywords

bureaucracySecond RepublicarmySpanish Civil WarAfricanistsburocraciaSegunda RepúblicaejércitoGuerra Civil EspañolaAfricanistas

JEL classification

N24: Europe: 1913– P48: Political Economy • Legal Institutions • Property Rights • Natural Resources • Energy • Environment • Regional Studies N44: Europe: 1913–
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 63 - 98
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Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2019

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Footnotes

a

Department of Economics, Goddard School of Business and Economics. [email protected]

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