Vox in the Mirror of the Spanish Radical Right The Consolidation of the Far-Right Victoria Bech Herrero (6861032) Supervisor: Daniel Brett Master Thesis 2019/20 International Relations in Historical Perspective Words: 15.091 Table of Content Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 6 Academic Debates .................................................................................................................... 8 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................ 10 Methodology and Sources ..................................................................................................... 12 Election Data ....................................................................................................................... 12 Archival Research ............................................................................................................... 12 The Evolution of the Extreme Right .......................................................................................... 14 The Spanish Political System: A Small Overview .............................................................. 14 The End of Franco’s Regime ................................................................................................ 15 The Electoral Failure: Internal and External Reasons ......................................................... 16 The Growth of the Extreme Right in 1979 .......................................................................... 18 The Decline of the Extreme Right ........................................................................................ 19 The Transformation of the Radical Right .................................................................................. 22 The Popular Party ................................................................................................................. 22 From Alianza Popular to the Popular Party ........................................................................ 22 The Establishment of the Popular Party .............................................................................. 24 Antisystem Groups ................................................................................................................ 25 The Radical Right in Western Europe ................................................................................ 26 The Radical Right Parties in Spain ...................................................................................... 27 The Roots of the Radical Right Parties ............................................................................... 27 Rise and Fall of the Radical Right Parties .......................................................................... 28 The Ideology of the Radical Right Parties .......................................................................... 29 The Foundation of Vox .............................................................................................................. 34 The Origins of Vox ................................................................................................................ 35 The 2014 European Election ............................................................................................... 36 The Consolidation of Vox ................................................................................................... 37 The Leaders of Vox: Opportunistic and True Believers .................................................... 39 Santiago Abascal Conde ..................................................................................................... 39 Javier Ortega Smith ............................................................................................................. 40 The Ideology of Vox: A Populistic Radical Right Party? .................................................. 41 Nationalism ......................................................................................................................... 41 Nativism .............................................................................................................................. 43 Populism .............................................................................................................................. 44 Authoritarianism ................................................................................................................. 48 Other Features ..................................................................................................................... 49 Summary of the Results ...................................................................................................... 51 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 53 Appendix: Election Data ............................................................................................................. 56 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 66 Primary Sources .................................................................................................................. 66 Secondary Sources .............................................................................................................. 67 2 Abstract Spain had been considered the exception to the rise of the far-right ideology. Despite the Great Recession of 2008, the political mistrust between citizens, and the increase in immigration, there was no significant populist radical right force comparable to the European populist radical right parties. Notwithstanding, after the 2019 Spanish general elections, Vox has become the third political force in the Congress of Deputies. Due to its recent political victory, a topic of debate revolves around Vox’s ideology. Through the analysis of Vox’s electoral programs, and the study of its linguist and rhetoric, this paper will establish if Vox is the new representative of the populist radical right in Spain. Although Franco’s dictatorship was established over 30 years, neither extreme nor radical right parties have obtained more than one percent of the vote since 1979. What factors have influenced the decline of the far-right? Moreover, how this decline has affected the development of Vox’s ideology? These questions will be answered throughout the thesis, finally linking the overuse of Francoist’s dogmas by the extreme right forces, and the lack of modernization by the radical right parties, with the downfall of Spanish far-right. Finally, the thesis will establish how this situation has shaped the development of Vox’s identity. 3 Acknowledgement I would like to express the most profound appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Daniel Brett, whose aid has been crucial for the realization of this project. His constant and constructive feedback over the course of searching and understanding the different sources, as well as his advice, for the writing of the thesis, were invaluable. Without his help, this research would not have been possible. I would like to thank Dr. Marloes Beers since she was the first person that I approached with the idea to do my thesis about Vox, and who taught me how to make a research proposal. In addition, Lecturer Stefanie Massink who restored my appreciation for the study of Spanish politics. 4 Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana 5 I Introduction For many years, Spain seemed to be the exception to Europe’s new normality: the rise and consolidation of populist radical right parties. Since the end of the Francoist regime in 1975, far-right parties were almost non-existent or irrelevant in the country’s political framework. Despite the Great Recession of 2008, the political mistrust between citizens, and the increase in immigration, academics such as Carmen Gónzalez-Enríquez and Xavier Casals believed that Spain was an exception to the European rise of populist radical right ideology. Neither extreme nor radical right parties have obtained more than one percent of the vote in national elections since 19791. Moreover, there was no significant populist radical right force comparable to the French Rassemblement National, the Italian Lega Nord or the German Alternative für Deutschland2. The bubble exploded when Vox succeeded in the regional election of Andalusia in 2018. In two years, the political party led by Santiago Abascal has become the third largest political force in the country, governs in the southern providence of Murcia, and was critical in the formation of Madrid’s municipal administration and the Andalusian government. This research will examine the ideology of Vox and classify the organization according to an ideology. Therefore, I will focus on the analyses of Vox’s ideology and political rhetoric between 2013 to 2020. The motivation behind this investigation is based on one reason. There is a riddle in the way that the radical right ideology has evolved in Spain. On the one hand, the strong rejection of the extremist right ideology led to the marginalization of extreme and radical right parties at the national level for many years, with only a few minor exceptions. On the other hand, Vox shares many features of other 1 González-Enríquez, Carmen. “The Spanish Exception: Unemployment, Inequality and Immigration, but