Freedom and Political Power in the Spanish University: The Democratic Movement Under Francoism

Abstract

In this essay (1), we shall attempt to understand and analyze some of the major aspects of an important dimension of contemporary Spanish culture: the university during the period of the political regime in power from 1939 to 1977. I shall be examining the changing relationships that emerged during this period among the political establishment, the general social transformations that occurred in the country, and the people directly concerned with higher education and scientific research — students, professors, and researchers. Thus, the analysis will focus on three major elements: the state (and, in particular, its specific form of domination), civil society, and the universities (in particular, the ideology and political behavior of its members, university students and staff). Within the general framework provided by these elements, I shall consider the forms of conflict and conflict resolution, as well as the emergence of new sources of instability, dislocation, and tensions over the course of time. For clarity's sake, I have given relatively less attention to certain essential features of Spanish university life as, for example, scientific research and the problems Spanish scientists and science students had to face during the Franco period, although its study from the perspective we have adopted here would also be quite fruitful. Even so, the field I have delimited is broad and complex in its own right.