Exhuming Franco: Spain’s second transition

Richards, Michael

Abstract

Following recommendation by a commission of historians, General Franco’s coffin was removed in 2019 from the controversial basilica-cum-heritage site, the Valley of the Fallen, constructed by his regime in the mountains north of Madrid. This attempt to de-politicise the site was carried out by the Social Democratic government in Spain, a process supported by a decision of the Supreme Court. The impact of this reform has been overlayed by the political “radioactivity” triggered by the exhumation on the eve of general elections in 2019. Amid economic crisis, exposure of political corruption, a waning of support for the previously most successful post-Franco political parties, and decline of Spanish nationalism, there have been calls for ‘a second transition’ to ‘complete’ the earlier transition to democracy after Franco died in 1975. ‘Exhuming Franco’ shows how the removal of the dictator’s remains was (and is) embroiled in this complex political moment which is determined as much by a global shift towards political populism as it is by the specifically Spanish historical context.

• Journal Article Type: Book Review
• Acceptance Date: Dec 22, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 22, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 2, 2025
• Print ISSN: 0022-2801
• Electronic ISSN: 1537-5358
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 96
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 494-496
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/730035
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11837558