Spain and the United States: Military primacy

Abstract

Democratization, modernization and consolidation as a medium‐to‐large sized European power are the three strategic objectives that have guided Spain's internal and external policies since Franco's death. In the process, US‐Spanish relations, the main pillar of Spain's foreign policy for nearly half a century, have been transformed. The EU partners have come to overshadow the USA in Spain's political, economic, financial and commercial external relations. Yet, in the military and cultural spheres, although deeply affected by Spain's integration into NATO and the globalization process that permeates everything, the US remains the main partner of Spain. From the Spanish government's perspective, it is a very unequal partnership requiring urgent change.