DOCSLIB.ORG

Forensics, DNA, and Rewriting the Past a Dissertation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Forensics, DNA, and Rewriting the Past a Dissertation UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Exhuming Spain’s Violent History: Forensics, DNA, and Rewriting the Past A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirement for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Nicole Aimeé Iturriaga 2018 © Copyright by Nicole Aimeé Iturriaga 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Exhuming Spain’s Violent History: Forensics, DNA and Rewriting the Past by Nicole Aimeé Iturriaga Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Abigail Cope Saguy, Co-Chair Professor Gail Kligman, Co-Chair Scholars have argued that the state has the power not only to decide who lives and who dies, but also has multiple “modalities of power deployment over the production and management of the dead,” known as necropower.1 However, the emergence of a forensics-based human rights social movement raises larger questions about how activists in post-conflict states are using forensic science to seize this nexus of state necropower. My research thus focuses on understanding: How are human rights activists using forensics and DNA testing to reframe histories of violence? How are these human rights activists using various mechanisms (globalized conceptions of human rights, transnational activist networks, international law, pedagogy, performance, embodiment) to further their goals of restoring identity, memory, and 1 Wilson, Richard Ashby. Necropolitics: mass graves and exhumations in the age of human rights. 3-4. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. ii justice within a globalized context? This study seeks to explore these questions through a case study of the silencing of the past in Spain. Chapter 2, Human Rights Forensics, A Global Movement Born in Death, focuses on the work of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who initiated and globalized this movement in response to the violent military regime that terrorized Argentina from 1976-1983 and left at least 30,000 people missing. It draws from a variety of data sources, including historical secondary literature, legal cases, and interviews with the leaders of the EAAF and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, as well as two months of observational data collected in Argentina in 2015. This chapter builds the groundwork of how forensics-based human rights transnational movement began, flourished, and spread. It shows that the Argentinean example may be one of the only fully successful cases of activists seizing control of a dominant narrative of state terror. I further analyze the impact of the EAAF and the Grandmothers’ globalization of this movement in an in-depth case study of Spain’s most prolific human rights forensic organization—the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH). My analyses draw on a 15-month participant observation of the ARMH, over 230 in-depth interviews, and a discourse analysis of visitors’ guest books from ARMH exhumations. I approach the case study through an in-depth analysis of three key dimensions: Performance, Pedagogy, and International Connections. I argue that these three dimensions illustrate the complex, overlapping, and sometimes-contradictory tactics that ARMH activists use in their reframing of Spain’s violent past. Chapters 4-6 thus represent the core of the research, with each chapter directly corresponding to each of these dimensions. iii In sum, I find that, by basing their claims in science, human rights activists transform perceptions of them from prejudiced activists with political goals into objective experts. Using science, international protocols, and tropes of modernity; activists depoliticize their version of state terror. I illustrate how, by using this ‘depoliticized approach,’ human rights activists successfully seize necropower from the state, meaningfully change how people understand and remember past violence, mold transitional justice efforts, restitute the identities of missing persons, and facilitate important death rituals for victims’ families. iv The dissertation of Nicole Aimee Iturriaga is approved. Hannah Louise Landecker Geoffrey Robinson Gail Kligman, Committee Co-Chair Abigail Cope Saguy, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 v —Para los sobrevivientes y luchadores contra el terrorismo del estado & —For my parents vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS ...........................................................................................................................................................IX LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................................... X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................................................XI CV..................................................................................................................................................................... XV EMPLOYMENT .....................................................................................................................................................XV EDUCATION .........................................................................................................................................................XV PUBLICATIONS .....................................................................................................................................................XV AWARDS ..............................................................................................................................................................XV CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 2 Necropower: Control the Memory, Control History ......................................................................................... 6 ‘Political Lives of the Dead’ ............................................................................................................................ 8 Collective Memory ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Social Movements and Performativity .......................................................................................................... 13 DATA AND METHODS ............................................................................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER OUTLINE ................................................................................................................................................ 20 CHAPTER 2: HUMAN RIGHTS FORENSICS, A GLOBAL MOVEMENT BORN IN DEATH ............................................. 24 ARGENTINA’S DIRTY WAR ...................................................................................................................................... 24 The Rise of the Grandmothers...................................................................................................................... 28 The Rise of the EAAF .................................................................................................................................... 31 THE GRANDMOTHERS, DNA, AND THE CONTESTING OF “HISTORY” .................................................................................. 36 Scientific Advancements, Forensic Truths, and “Restituting” Identity, Changing History ................................ 37 Genetic Identity, Memory Work, and the Continued Search for the Living Disappeared ................................. 45 Impact of the Grandmother’s Negotiation of Necropower ............................................................................ 54 GLOBALIZING THE FIGHT......................................................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 3: SPAIN’S VIOLENT & REPRESSIVE PAST, A PRIMER ............................................................................. 60 The Spanish Civil War .................................................................................................................................. 60 The Coup d’état of 1936 .............................................................................................................................. 61 Francoism ................................................................................................................................................... 67 Shaming the Defeated, Franco Repression ................................................................................................... 69 Creating the Dominant Narrative ................................................................................................................. 72 Post Franco, Transition, and Changing Legal Regimes .................................................................................. 76 Spanish Legal Structure ............................................................................................................................... 77 The Rise of the ARMH .................................................................................................................................. 80 CHAPTER FOUR: BREAKING THE SILENCE, BREAKING THE FEAR: THE ROLE OF PERFORMATIVE TACTICS ............. 83 FINDINGS ..........................................................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Spain's Politics of Forgetting Peculiar Pero No Única
    PECULIAR BUT NOT UNIQUE: SPAIN’S POLITICS OF FORGETTING OMAR G. ENCARNACIÓN Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York [email protected] ABSTRACT: The present analysis challenges the widespread view of Spain as outside or in viola- tion of international norms of how nations are meant to deal with a difficult and painful past. It argues that Spain is “peculiar but not unique” as it concerns the attempt to overcome the horrific legacy of the Spanish Civil War and the Francois repression by forging the so-called Pact of Forgetting. Across the Western world, there is a long history of countries forgetting and reinventing their histories for the purpose of consolidating democratic institutions. Moreover, there is no con- sensus on how nations should conduct themselves with respect to the past. What there is, instead, is a tendency to find pragmatic solutions that privilege peace and stability over justice and accountability against the old regime. KEY WORDS: Spain – Francoism – transitional justice – democratization – Pact of Forgetting PECULIAR PERO NO ÚNICA: LA POLÍTICA DEL OLVIDO ESPAÑOLA RESUMEN: El presente análisis pone en tela de juicio la idea predominante de España como infractora de los criterios internacionales relativos al modo en que las naciones deben encarar un pasado sombrío y doloroso. Argumenta que España es “pecu- liar, pero no única” en lo que se refiere a tratar de superar los horrores de la Gue- rra Civil Española y la represión franquista con el llamado Pacto del Olvido. En Occidente existe un largo historial de países que se han acogido expresamente al olvido o a la reinvención de la historia con el fin de facilitar la consolidación de las instituciones democráticas.
    [Show full text]
  • Joint Submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
    Joint Submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights On the occasion of the review of Spain´s 5th Periodic Report at the 48th Session, May 2012 Executive Summary SUBMITTED BY: CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS (CESR) OBSERVATORIO DE DERECHOS ECONÓMICOS, SOCIALES Y CULTURALES (OBSERVATORI DESC) ASOCIACIÓN ASPACIA ASOCIACIÓN ESPAÑOLA PARA EL DERECHO INTERNACIONAL DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS (AEDIDH) COMITÉ ESPAÑOL DE REPRESENTANTES DE PERSONAS CON DISCAPACIDAD (CERMI) CONFEDERACION ESPAÑOLA DE AGRUPACIONES DE FAMILIARES Y PERSONAS CON ENFERMEDAD MENTAL (FEAFES) COORDINADORA DE ONG PARA EL DESARROLLO- ESPAÑA CREACIÓN POSITIVA FEDERACIÓN DE ENTIDADES DE APOYO A LAS PERSONAS SIN HOGAR (FEPSH) FUNDACIÓN SECRETARIADO GITANO FUNDACIÓN TRIÁNGULO MÉDICOS DEL MUNDO MOVIMIENTO CUARTO MUNDO ESPAÑA PLATAFORMA UNITARIA DE ENCUENTRO PARA LA DEMOCRATIZACIÓN DE LA ONCE (PUEDO) PROVIVIENDA RED ACTIVAS RED DE LUCHA CONTRA LA POBREZA Y LA EXCLUSIÓN SOCIAL (EAPN) RED ESPAÑOLA CONTRA LA TRATA DE PERSONAS SAVE THE CHILDREN Full report submitted in Spanish on 15 March 2012 Joint Submission to the Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 5th Periodic Review of Spain, 48th Session of the CESCR, May 2012 1 INTRODUCTION This executive summary highlights the key concerns and recommendations contained in the joint submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by 19 civil society organizations on the occasion of Spain’s review before the Committee at its 48th session in May 2012. The report complements information presented in Spain´s 5th Periodic Report of June 2009, highlighting key areas of concern regarding the State’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), with particular reference to issues insufficiently addressed or omitted from the State report and the list of issues put forth by the Pre- sessional Working Group of the Committee in May 2011.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Rights in Spain – a Mere National Topic?
    ÖGfE Policy Brief 27'2015 Human rights in Spain – a mere national topic? By Ruth Simsa & Luis Berraquero-Díaz Vienna, 27 July 2015 ISSN 2305-2635 Policy Recommendations 1. Europe must respond to the recently toughened Spanish law on public security that is bound to lead to a severe restriction of civil rights. 2. The observation and documentation of human rights violations in EU member states should be improved. 3. An active role of European politics in fostering civil and social rights in all member states would comply with its crucial values and could increase trust in the EU. Abstract Millions of Spanish people have been protesting security, civil rights have been even further restric- against austerity policies and their consequences. ted: High penalties are foreseen for activities that The Spanish government has responded with a law form the core of the civic right to express opinions on public security that leads to a severe restric- and protest. Spain is not the only European country tion of civil rights to demonstrate and protest. In weakening human rights protection. This deve- recent years, activists have already faced incre- lopment should not be treated mainly as a matter asing repression, with a rise in financial penalties of national affairs. It threatens essential aspects and arrests as well as bodily harm even in nonvi- of the European political culture and its values. olent demonstrations. With the new law on public Österreichische Gesellschaft für Europapolitik (ÖGfE) | Rotenhausgasse 6/8-9 | A-1090 Wien | [email protected] | oegfe.at | +43 1 533 4999 1 Human rights in Spain – a mere national topic? ÖGfE Policy Brief 27’2015 The protest movement as a While Spain was called to order several times for consequence of the social and police torture cases before the rise of social acti- political crisis vism2, police brutality has been denounced by the Council of Europe in 20133.
    [Show full text]
  • Internship Placements – Valencia, Spain (Per Company Type)
    Internship Placements – Valencia, Spain (Per Company Type) INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS/MARKETING (Sports) VILLARREAL CF (Villarreal Football Club) Villarreal CF is a Spanish football club that was founded in 1923 and currently competes in the Spanish Football League ‘La Liga’, highly regarded as one of the best teams in the first division. It is a successful organization that seeks to develop the excellence of sports and its youth development. The Villarreal CF stadium has a capacity of 24,500 people. The intern will manage the club’s new business and social media accounts, be in charge of identifying key multimedia elements concerning digital football, adapt content to international markets (mainly by identifying the correct themes to promote, cutting video clips and creating subtitles when needed) and help build a stronger networking platform with media professionals from all over the world. Business specific interns will be in charge of market research, prospective clients, industry trends analysis and contact with potential partners. ART ACANTHUS Acanthus offers a wide range of techniQues to its clients. Services such as conservation, restoration and rehabilitation of pieces that are part of our heritage. The intern’s role will involve participating in the restoration of cultural property. They will specifically be involved in the restoration process that takes place at the workshop and complete technical reports. Other daily duties will be assigned by the supervisor based on current projects and demands of the business. ALBA CABRERA Alba Cabrera Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Valencia. With over 25 years of experience, the gallery has exhibited, marketed and projected local artists worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • ICJ Review-23-1979-Eng
    For the Rule of Law THE REVIEW INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS ED ITO R IA L 1 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD El Salvador 3 Nigeria 14 Ghana 5 Pakistan and Bangladesh 19 Japan 10 Singapore 23 COMMENTARIES Human Rights Committee 26 UN Sub-Commission 31 ARTICLE Pre-trial Detention in Western Europe S. Grosz, A.B. McNulty andP.J. Duffy 35 JUDICIAL APPLICATION OF THE RULE OF LAW Sunday Times Case, European Court of Human Rights 62 ICJ NEWS 64 No 23 December 1979 Editor: Niall MacDermot ASSOCIATES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS The International Commission of Jurists is a non-governmental organisation devoted to promoting throughout the world the understanding and observance of the Rule of Law and the legal protection of human rights. Its headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. It has national sections and affiliated legal organisations in over 60 countries. It enjoys consultative status with the United Nations Econortiic and Social Council, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Its activities include the publication of its Review; organising congresses, con­ ferences and seminars; conducting studies or inquiries into particular situations or subjects concerning the Rule of Law and publishing reports upon them; sending international observers to trials of major significance; intervening with governments or issuing press statements concerning violations of the Rule of Law; sponsoring proposals within the United Nations and other international organisations for improved procedures and conventions for the protection of human rights. If you are in sympathy with the objectives and work of the International Com­ mission of Jurists, you are invited to help their furtherance by becoming an Associate.
    [Show full text]
  • Justice in Times of Transition: Lessons from the Iberian Experience
    Center for European Studies Working Paper Series #173 (2009) Justice in Times of Transition: Lessons from the Iberian Experience Omar G. Encarnación Professor and Chair of Political Studies Bard College Division of Social Studies Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504 E-mail – [email protected] Abstract A key contention of the transitional justice movement is that the more comprehensive and vigorous the effort to bring justice to a departed authoritarian regime the better the democratizing outcome will be. This essay challenges this view with empirical evidence from the Iberian Peninsula. In Portugal, a sweeping policy of purges intended to cleanse the state and society of the authoritarian past nearly derailed the transition to democracy by descending into a veritable witch-hunt. In Spain, by contrast, letting bygones be bygones, became a foundation for democratic consolidation. These counter-intuitive examples suggest that there is no pre-ordained outcome to transitional justice, and that confronting an evil past is neither a requirement nor a pre-condition for democratization. This is primarily because the principal factors driving the impulse toward justice against the old regime are political rather than ethical or moral. In Portugal, the rise of transitional justice mirrored the anarchic politics of the revolution that lunched the transition to democracy. In Spain, the absence of transitional justice reflected the pragmatism of a democratic transition anchored on compromise and consensus. It is practically an article of faith that holding a departed authoritarian regime accountable for its political crimes through any of the available political and legal means is a pre-requisite for nations attempting to consolidate democratic rule.
    [Show full text]
  • Spanish Courts and the Case for Universal Jurisdiction
    Memories Without Borders? Spanish Courts and the Case for Universal Jurisdiction JOSÉ COLMEIRO “Forgetting is full of memory” – Mario Benedetti Introduction The field of memory has become a crucial topic of inquiry across academic disciplines and social discourses in recent years. Andreas Huyssen has referred to the widespread ‘obsession with memory and fear of forgetting’ in our contemporary globalized culture.1 The current preoccupation with collective memories across the globe and the parallel proliferation of critical discourses about the social processes of coming to terms with the collective past, appear symptomatic of cultural anxieties resulting from the systemic transformations caused by forces of globalization. I would like to argue that this resurgence of memory in political, cultural and academic discourses in the age of globalization is not a mere coincidence, but is a direct consequence of globalization. As Aleida Assmann and Sebastian Conrad have noted, the traditional spaces, channels and forms of collective memory are being transformed by, and in reaction to, the forces of globalization.2 Local and national spaces and processes of remembrance have not disappeared, but the global has now become the central stage for social and political actors, grassroots movements, and judicial activism. That is why it has become necessary, rephrasing Maurice Halbwachs’s conceptualization of the ‘social frames’ of memory, to examine the ‘global frames’ of memories. Early in 2010, the news of Spanish ‘star judge’ Baltasar Garzón being indicted by Spain’s High Court made the headlines of news media across the globe, and filled social networks, blogs, and websites of human rights organizations, grassroots groups and civic associations throughout cyberspace.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 Country Review
    Spain 2016 Country Review http://www.countrywatch.com Table of Contents Chapter 1 1 Country Overview 1 Country Overview 2 Key Data 4 Spain 5 Europe 6 Chapter 2 8 Political Overview 8 History 9 Political Conditions 12 Political Risk Index 63 Political Stability 77 Freedom Rankings 92 Human Rights 104 Government Functions 107 Government Structure 110 Principal Government Officials 121 Leader Biography 128 Leader Biography 128 Foreign Relations 130 National Security 144 Defense Forces 146 Appendix: The Basques 147 Appendix: Spanish Territories and Jurisdiction 161 Chapter 3 163 Economic Overview 163 Economic Overview 164 Nominal GDP and Components 190 Population and GDP Per Capita 192 Real GDP and Inflation 193 Government Spending and Taxation 194 Money Supply, Interest Rates and Unemployment 195 Foreign Trade and the Exchange Rate 196 Data in US Dollars 197 Energy Consumption and Production Standard Units 198 Energy Consumption and Production QUADS 200 World Energy Price Summary 201 CO2 Emissions 202 Agriculture Consumption and Production 203 World Agriculture Pricing Summary 206 Metals Consumption and Production 207 World Metals Pricing Summary 210 Economic Performance Index 211 Chapter 4 223 Investment Overview 223 Foreign Investment Climate 224 Foreign Investment Index 226 Corruption Perceptions Index 239 Competitiveness Ranking 251 Taxation 259 Stock Market 261 Partner Links 261 Chapter 5 263 Social Overview 263 People 264 Human Development Index 267 Life Satisfaction Index 270 Happy Planet Index 281 Status of Women 291 Global Gender
    [Show full text]
  • The Declaration Abroad: a Comparative Perspective
    Pace International Law Review Volume 11 Issue 1 Spring 1999 Article 7 April 1999 The Declaration Abroad: A Comparative Perspective Michael P.D. Ellman Abderrahim Jamai Eugenio Gay Montalvo Muhamed Mugraby Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr Recommended Citation Michael P.D. Ellman, Abderrahim Jamai, Eugenio Gay Montalvo, and Muhamed Mugraby, The Declaration Abroad: A Comparative Perspective, 11 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 163 (1999) Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol11/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace International Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DECLARATION ABROAD: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE Co-Moderators Michael P.D. Ellman President, UIA Commission on the Defence of the Defence, London, U.K. Paul Nemo UIA Director of Human Rights Projects, Paris, France Panelists Abderrahim Jamai Baronnier, Bar of Kenitra, Morocco Dr. Muhamed Mugraby Vice President, UIA Commission of the Defence, Beirut, Lebanon Eugenio Gay Montalvo President,Abogacia Espanola and Human Rights Commission INTRODUCTION MR. ELLMAN: Good afternoon. My name is Michael Ellman. I am a solici- tor in London - that is an attorney - and I have, up to now, been Chair of the Defence of the Defence Commission of the UIA, the Union International des Avocats. I would like to say how pleased and honored we are to have been asked to run this seminar. We have been working for the freedom of lawyers throughout the world to practice their pro- fession free of persecution and interference by the authorities, which in many countries of this world, unfortunately, is not very simple.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Rights and Social Justice in Social Work Education: a Critical Realist Comparative Study of England and Spain
    Durham E-Theses Human Rights and Social Justice in Social Work Education: A critical realist comparative study of England and Spain MARTINEZ-HERRERO, MARIA,INES How to cite: MARTINEZ-HERRERO, MARIA,INES (2017) Human Rights and Social Justice in Social Work Education: A critical realist comparative study of England and Spain, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11991/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION: A CRITICAL REALIST COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLAND AND SPAIN María Inés Martínez Herrero Social work´s emergence and historical evolution has been intertwined with evolving notions of human rights (HR) and social justice (SJ). These two principles permeate definitions of social work and codes of ethics for social work across the world, and the Global Standards for social work education promote human rights and social justice as unifying themes of the profession.
    [Show full text]
  • Breanna F. Kerr a Thesis Submitted to the Facult
    HOW EFFECTIVE WERE TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MEASURES IN POST-AUTHORITARIAN IBERIA? Breanna F. Kerr A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the TransAtlantic Master’s Program in the Political Science Department. Chapel Hill 2020 Approved By: Milada A. Vachudova Claudia Matthes John Stephens Don Searing © 2020 Breanna F. Kerr ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Breanna Kerr: How Effective were Transitional Justice Measures in Post-Authoritarian Iberia? (Under the direction of Milada A. Vachudova and Claudia Matthes) The October 2019 exhumation of the mortal remains of the former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco had political repercussions that are still being felt across the Iberian Peninsula today. One of the main conflicts that this exhumation raised was the tension between remembering the authoritarian past and burying it for the sake of consensual politics. This thesis takes the Valley of the Fallen case and applies several theories of democratization in order to report findings on the state of Iberian democracy as a whole. My research then looks to Portugal to contrast the modes of transition to democracy and resulting transitional justice practices, which I argue led to a quicker and stronger consolidation of democracy in Portugal than in Spain. The varying democratization practices and the resurgence of an authoritarian past in both countries has a great impact on the state of play on the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe as a whole. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would not have been able to write this thesis had it not been for Milada A.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Spanish Constitution, Comments and Full Text, 7 Hastings Const
    Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly Volume 7 Article 2 Number 1 Fall 1979 1-1-1979 The ewN Spanish Constitution, Comments and Full Text George E. Glos Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Recommended Citation George E. Glos, The New Spanish Constitution, Comments and Full Text, 7 Hastings Const. L.Q. 47 (1979). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly/vol7/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The New Spanish Constitution, Comments and Full Text by GEORGE E. GLOS* Introduction Spain has a new constitution after nearly half a century. The con- stitutional provisions existing prior to their repeal by the new constitu- tion consisted of a number of constitutional enactments rather than of a single document.' The new Spanish Constitution, a consolidation of old and new, was worked out by the Spanish parliament, the Cortes, on the basis of a government submitted draft, and represents the outcome of an agreement between the two leading political parties in Spain, the Unibn de Centro Democrztico (Democratic Center Union) and the Par- /ido Socialista Obrero Espahol (Socialist Labor Party). Together these parties hold an absolute majority in the Cortes. The constitution was approved by the Cortes on October 31, 1978, and by the voters in a plebiscite on December 6, 1978.
    [Show full text]