The history of studying the problem of transformation of the Spanish political system on the example of the activity of the party «Citizens» (2015-2022)

Ryzhikova Ekaterina Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0002-1802-4954 Postgraduate Student, Department of Modern and Contemporary History of European and American Countries, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Kolmogorova str., 1 ekaterinaryzikova@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The formation and development of the Spanish party and political system until the beginning of the XXI century is a constant and well-developed problem of analytical literature, both in Spain and in Russia^[33]. There are several stages in the development of the Spanish political system: the first stage – in the era of the monarchy (1812-1923), the second – during the military dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) and the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939), the third – during the dictatorship of F.Franco (1939-1975), the fourth – during the period of "democratic transit" (1975-1978/1982) from authoritarianism to constitutional monarchy, the fifth – the period of the first symptoms of the crisis of political institutions (from the late 1980s to the early 2010s)^[8].

Currently, the traditional party and political system of Spain, that is, the previously formed one, is undergoing transformation under the influence of various factors. Among them are problems of both an internal nature – the structural features of the political and institutional system of Spain inherited from the transition period of 1975-1978, the crisis of separatism, and the global economic crisis of 2008 and its far from obsolete consequences^[14]. All this paved the way for the emergence of new political parties at the national level – Citizens and Podemos in 2015, Vox in 2018.

The activities of the "Citizens" revealed the crisis of the traditional political system, based, in particular, on bipartisanship, within which two national forces dominated the country for more than 30 years – the conservative People's Party (NP) and the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)^[4,c.135].The emergence of "Citizens" at the national level led to a protracted government crisis (2015-2019). At the same time, the Catalan conflict transformed into an acute political and constitutional crisis, which revealed the holding of a referendum on the independence of the region (October 1, 2017) and the political struggle between supporters and opponents of the state unity of Spain, which continues to this day. During the crisis period, the "Citizens" turned into the main political force: they largely determined the process of forming government coalitions, sought to realize their political potential in solving the Catalan problem.

The problem under study is relevant both in the scientific and socio-political sense, since it is associated with the metamorphoses of modern political systems and social movements. Spain, which has experienced the transition from dictatorship to democracy and the rapid formation of a party system over the past 47 years, and a series of internal political crises over the past seven years, is an object of interest to researchers studying political processes in modern Europe.

The Podemos party, which appeared simultaneously with the Citizens, has already become the object of political science and historical research; scientists and analysts have identified its main characteristics^[21]. To fully understand the state of modern research on "Citizens" in the context of the transformation of the Spanish political system, it seems necessary to turn to the history of studying the evolution of the party-political system since 2015. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to complete the following research tasks:

1. Identify the traditions of the study of the Spanish political system in 1975-2014;

2. To identify the main directions of studying the political system of Spain (2015-2022) in domestic Spanish studies and foreign literature, to characterize the research methods used in the works.

The methodological basis of the work is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, systematic analysis; historical and genetic method and comparative approach, which is due to the research logic of studying works on the transformation of the Spanish political system over time, and involves a comparative analysis of domestic and foreign literature.

One of the theoretical categories basic to this work is the concept of "political crisis", the content of which is debatable both in historical science and in political science. Based on the study of about 30 definitions of the "political crisis", which are present in scientific works, various approaches to the interpretation of this phenomenon are revealed ^{p[10,p.141]. Taking into account these characteristics, this work is based on the idea of the political crisis in Spain as a long-term unstable state of the political system, which is the result of the interaction of both internal and global factors. The domestic political situation has a decisive influence on the development of the crisis.}

Studying the problem of the transformation of the Spanish political system, researchers resorted to various theoretical and methodological constructions and relied on a different body of sources. Scientists mainly used the following theoretical approaches: a systematic approach developed by the American political scientist D. It originated in the 1950s and implies the consideration of the political system as a set of various elements of a subsystem, that is, in its entirety; genetic, including comparative historical analysis, in which the objective conditionality of political phenomena by economic and social factors is of important criterion importance^[20]; discursive, using the methodology of political discourse analysis by E. Laclau^[26], classical discourse analysis by T.A. van Dyck (one of the directions of critical discourse analysis); historical institutionalism, which allows us to study institutions and their changes over time, as well as how these changes affect the formation of political, economic and social processes^[34].

Special attention was paid to the transitological approach, which studied the problems associated with the transition of states from authoritarianism to democratic regimes^[11]. A. Przeworski, F. Schmitter, H. Linz, S. Huntington and others made a great contribution to the development of problems of transitology.The researchers also addressed the concept of social separation between S.M. Lipset and S. Rokkana^[27]. The theory originated within the framework of the sociological school of analysis of electoral behavior, the foundation of which was laid during the research of a group of American scientists led by P. Lazarsfeld on the 1948 presidential elections in the United States. This theory substantiates the influence of socio-group conflicts on ideological and party differentiation.

Scientists are also characterized by the use of methodological tools in the electoral field of research, which studies the electoral process as a whole (voter behavior, their political orientation, etc.). The development of this approach dates back to the 1930s and 40s and is associated with the names of A. Siegfried, P. Lazarsfeld, B. Berelson, etc. The main methods of electoral research are mass quantitative surveys, media content analysis, and in-depth interviews with voters. The researchers' works widely use high-quality content analysis, a method of research in the field of social sciences, which originated in the early twentieth century, and acquired a modern look in the 1950s. Thanks to one of the founders of the Chicago School of Sociology, G. Lassuel and French journalist J.The Kaiser. The qualitative type of content analysis involves analyzing the content of the text.

To create a categorical apparatus, scientists turned to Harmelar's fundamental work^[25], which proposed interpretations of the "new party" and its typology, the theory of party changes. As a result, a number of studies were based on the idea of the "new party" as an inherently non-systemic element in relation to the established political model, which, becoming part of it, is able to change the existing dynamics of party competition^p[25,p.408].

The history of the study of the Spanish political system (1975-2014)

By 2015, signs of instability of the political system created during the Transit period (1975-1978) were becoming obvious, which led to the study of the causes of this very instability, which were searched, firstly, in the history of its creation on the basis of a new corpus of sources, and it was revised - works respectively 1995 ^[13], 1998^[20], 2000^[34], 2005^[24], 2008^[29] and 2018^[15], dedicated to the anniversary of Transit and the 1978 Constitution, the legal foundation of the entire political system.

The reasons for the current state of the political transit system were also sought in the definition and historical explanation of its "weak" points, which, in turn, turned into an appeal to analysis: firstly, the constitutional basis (the verdict of the Constitutional Court in 2010 on the Statute of Catalonia stimulated this process), secondly, the activities of the actors in the process and the specifics of their political decision-making, thirdly, the formation of parties and political groupings. Of course, the study of ideological trends is included in each of these points.

Based on the historiographical turn of the 1990s-2000s, the categorical apparatus and concepts were established, which were tested on specifically Spanish material. As a result of research, by 2010, the following characteristics of the Spanish political system established during the Transition period had been established in historiography: Spanish consolidated democracy, bipartism, "national accord", Spanish modernization, "democratic transit", political transit system/Transitions that, according to analysts, retain their scientific relevance^[14].

There is also a common tradition of researching the political transit system: Both domestic and foreign researchers have attempted to consider the evolution of the party-political system within the framework of a transitological approach^[14;20], the surge of interest in which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s everywhere in connection with the fall of authoritarian regimes in Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Within the framework of this approach, the researchers studied the Spanish version of Transit: the conditions and prerequisites that favored the transition to democracy, its driving forces, stages, and revealed the features of the democratic process and the established political system. The analysis of the works devoted to this issue allows us to assess their scientific contribution to the development of the problem of the transformation of the Spanish political system, as well as to determine the prospects for applying a transitological approach to the study of the modern political process. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in more detail the main works that set the vectors for studying the state of the Spanish political system created during the Transit period.

F.H. Llera, Professor of Political Science at the University of the Basque Country, using systematic and comparative analysis in his work, studied the political process during the Transition period (1975-1978)^[29] . The scientist paid special attention to the institutional and socio-cultural aspects. To reveal the topic, the author drew on an extensive source corpus – materials of official, journalistic and personal origin. As a result, the author noted that destabilizing elements were embedded in the political transit system: vague and ambiguous articles of the 1978 Constitution and the lack of a full-fledged separation of powers in it; the problem of the country's political and territorial structure and related heated discussions about possible federalization; lack of public agreement regarding the historical past, the fusion of the two main parties, PSOE and NP, with state structures, lack of external control and internal party democracy, elite isolation of the leading forces, strict internal hierarchy, which came to the surface in the early 2010s^p[29,p.299].

The transitological approach was taken as a basis and X.Perez Ventura in the work "Bipartism in Spain", devoted to the problem of stability of the political system^[31]. It examined the reasons for the long-term bipartisan dominance in the political life of the country, and those aspects that influenced the leading position of the main forces. The researcher showed that the alternation of two management models – "majority", that is, when one of the two main forces has a parliamentary majority and governs independently, and "consensus", when a minority government is formed with the support of regional parties, became the key to the stability of the entire political system and was its feature^[31]. Therefore, according to the author, one of the reasons for the crisis of bipartisanship was the exhaustion of the potential for political compromise between the main forces on global issues, which was characteristic of the Transit period^[31].

There is no clear opinion among researchers regarding the assessment of Transit, the interdependence of politics during the Transition period (1975-1978) and the crisis of the Spanish system at the present stage. According to S.M. Henkin, currently at the epicenter of the internal political struggle are issues that did not dominate the political discourse and seemed to be resolved during the Transit period, for example, the dilemma "monarchy–republic" related to the issue of the state system ^{[20, p.129]}. On the other hand, H. Tusel noted that Spanish modernization requires constant self-correction: settled issues can become relevant and debatable even in the context of a Spanish consolidated democracy^{p[36,p.459]. In general, the transitological approach can serve not only to analyze the transition process from authoritarianism to democracy, but also to identify the stages of evolution within democracy, and identify new criteria for transformation. Therefore, this methodological model is quite applicable to the study of modern problems related to the crisis of the Spanish political system.}

Features of studying the transformation of the Spanish political system at the present stage (since 2015 )

The Spanish works devoted to the transformation of the political system since 2015 have mainly been carried out within the framework of the electoral research area. However, each specialist has his own field of scientific interests: A. Gil-Torres considered the Spanish political system from the point of view of the current state of the electoral process, O. Sanchez Munoz focused on studying the evolution of the party model in the context of the influence of the established electoral system, H. Rama Caamagno and A.M. Reiners investigated the problem of the crisis of the party system from the point of view of the causes of the emergence of new political forces and tried to determine their nature. As a result, Spanish researchers explained the modern changes taking place in the Spanish political system in different ways. Despite this, the conclusions of each researcher are valuable, and therefore it is necessary to consider in more detail the main works devoted to the evolution of the party-political system.

In the article "Bipartism and pluralistic Democracy in Spain: the formation of a socio-political context" according to the Center for Sociological Research (CSI) (2011-2016), political scientist A. Gil-Torres attempted to answer the following questions: has the emergence of new parties in 2015 affected the political activity of Spaniards, has the attitude of citizens towards the political process changed compared to the last years of the two–party system (2011-2014)^[23]. Based on the problem posed, the main source of the work was materials of official origin – state statistics data (public polls, election results, etc.) published by the CSI and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Spain. To analyze the source base, the author turned to a descriptive statistical method. The main conclusions of the scientist are related to voters and politics, participation in various socio-political organizations, parties' contact with voters, monitoring of political information and interest in the campaign or voting on election day. The results of the study showed that, despite the transition to a multiparty system, Spanish society has not radically changed its attitude to politics, the activity of citizens was relatively low^{p[23,p.96]. The second-time analyzed statistical data opens up new research prospects: The obtained material can be used to build predictive models, for example, on the issue of Spain's recovery from the political crisis in the short and medium term.}

O. Sanchez Munoz, a political scientist at the University of Valladolid, set himself the task of determining how significant the transformation of the Spanish political system has been since 2015, and assessing its prospects – the movement towards reform within the framework of the existing political system or the symptoms of its qualitative change^[33]. Unlike his predecessor, the author attracted a wide range of sources – official and journalistic origin, which corresponded to the research plan. The methodological basis of the work was system analysis, historical-genetic and synchronous comparative method. The author noted that the existing electoral model formed during the Transit period contributed to the creation of an "imperfect two-party system" (el sistema bipartidista imperfecto) with the predominance of two leading political forces ^{p[33,p.243]. As a result, the researcher came to the conclusion that the political crisis in Spain is associated with a structural problem – the inconsistency of electoral legislation with modern realities. The question of the essence of the transformation of the Spanish party system remained open. The scientist noted that in the current situation in Spain, the reform of electoral legislation is not possible, therefore, for reflection, O. Sanchez Munoz presented two options for further evolution of the party system, taking into account the existing electoral system: the transition to a two-party system of a new format (the division of the main political forces into conditionally right and left flanks) or a multiparty model with a bipolar orientationp[33,p.251].}

The subject of the study is X. Rama Caamagno and A.M. Reiners, sociologists at the Autonomous University of Madrid, became the election programs and speeches of the leaders of the new parties in Spain – "Citizens" and "Podemos", which were considered in the context of the evolution of the party system^[32]. At the empirical level, the authors applied the comparative method synchronously. At the same time, using the method of qualitative content analysis, the scientists identified the main topics that affected the new political forces. As the study showed, these topics were current problems in Spain and were mentioned in public polls since the early 2010s^{p[32,p.416]. On the basis of which, scientists came to the conclusion that when considering the causes of the emergence of new players, the ignoring of existing problems by traditional parties was of paramount importance [Ibid.].}

In Russian historiography after 2015, it is worth highlighting the following specialists on the Spanish political system who cooperate with certain research institutes: S.M. Henkin considered the political system in historical development, P.P. Yakovlev explained it from the point of view of economic processes, other scientists studied the political system in the context of structural changes - V.L. Vernikov from the point of view of from the point of view of changes in the party system and the development of the separatism crisis, A.V. Baranov taking into account the socio-cultural aspect, A.A. Kurakina-Damir from the point of view of changes in the modern electoral process. Despite the specifics of research approaches, various explanations of the transformation of the Spanish political system, the conclusions of each scientist are valuable, so let's take a closer look at the main works that set the vectors for studying the current state of the Spanish political system.

The research of S.M. Henkin, professor of the Department of Comparative Political Science at MGIMO, is based on an institutional approach, in which the scientist characterized the party-political system of 2015-2018 ^[14-16]. The author studied the evolution of the Spanish party system using a comparative historical method. The researcher focused on two traditional national parties – the Conservatives and the Socialists. Therefore, the study of the party system at the present stage has been limited to considering the specifics and state of traditional forces, NP and PSOE ^{[15, p.93]}. Based on the approach chosen by the researcher, the work analyzes to a lesser extent the socio-economic factors that influenced the political crisis in the country. The scientist identified the main vector of transformation of the Spanish political system – the transition from bipartism to a multiparty model under the influence of a crisis of confidence in traditional parties and the activities of new political forces, which, in turn, led to the problem of forming a government^{p[15,p.97]. According to the author, a return to bipartisanship is unlikely and the only way out is to implement a stable practice of interparty compromisep[15,p.102]. The obtained analytical material and S.M. Henkin's political forecast contribute to identifying the specifics of the Spanish political crisis and determining the prospects for overcoming it.}

S.M. Henkin's works were based on press materials – articles from national and regional print publications in Spain. On the one hand, this testified to the relevance of the political process under study, on the other, to the limited nature of the scientist's research, since S.M. Henkin did not use sources of other origin, for example, official and personal.

A genetic approach to the study of the causes and circumstances of the crisis of the political transit system, its transformation after the national elections in 2015 is presented in the work of P. Yakovlev, Doctor of Economics and head of the Center for Iberian Studies of the ILA RAS^[18]. The author pays special attention to the global financial and economic crisis of 2008, which affected, among others, Spain and its far from obsolete social consequences. From the author's point of view, the economic aspect was one of the main factors in the crisis state of the Spanish political system^{p[18,p.27]. This is quite expected, given the scope of scientific interests of the scientist. Considering the perspective chosen by the author to study the transformation of the political system, P.P. Yakovlev's research is rich in its statistical data.}

Another work by the same author represents the first attempt to analyze the current situation in Spain in 2019-2020 within the framework of a systematic approach^[17]. The author came to the conclusion that the modern crisis has a multifactorial character, but the economic factor plays a major role in its development^{p[17,p.98]. However, the work is valuable not only for its factual material, reasoning, but also for the forecast made. In general, the scientist was inclined to the point of view that the problem of forming a stable government in Spain would remain, and the crisis transition period in the country was incomplete, since a new party-political configuration was still being formedp[17,p.102].}

V.L. Vernikov, head of the Center for Iberian Studies of the IE RAS, in his work, using comparative analysis, studied the activities of the main parties in Spain, in particular, the party congresses of 2016-2017, and assessed the impact of multipartyism on the further development of the political situation^{p[4,p.137]. Unlike his domestic colleagues, V.L. Vernikov believed that it was premature to assert the end of the two-party system, referring to the preservation of the leading positions of the NP and PSOEp[4,p.138].}

The next work by the same scientist focuses on studying the impact of the Catalan factor, that is, the crisis of separatism on the political situation in the country; the reaction of the party establishment to the rise of the separatist movement, it also provides a forecast. The author came to the conclusion that the Catalan crisis was one of the factors that led to changes in the political system^[3]. Applying discourse analysis to the study of the speeches of the leaders of the main parties, the author noted a trend in the electoral preferences of Spaniards depending on the positions taken by the main parties regarding the actions of the separatists^{p[3,p.83]. Taking into account this fact, the scientist argued that the result of the transformation of the system was a chronic political crisis, the prospects for overcoming which are uncertain[3,84].}

Doctor of Political Science A.V. Baranov in his works^[1-2], aiming to identify the main aspects of the crisis of the party system since the 2010s, paid special attention to the socio–class and socio-cultural determinants of party orientations of voters, the specifics of support for the main parties at elections at various levels. A.V. Baranov's research was carried out on the basis of historical institutionalism and the concept of social separation by S.M. Lipset and S. Roccana. The methodology chosen by the author makes it possible to assess the transformation of the party system and its elements as a process determined by the vector of previous development, the ratio of resource capabilities of competing actors, as well as socio-cultural norms and value orientations of policy participants. The starting point of the analysis was the assessment of the Spanish party system (1977-2011) as an element of the political system formed during the Transit period (1975-1978)^{p[2,p.39]. The concept of social separation between S.M. Lipset and S. Rokkana allowed the author to identify long-term factors of citizens' party commitment, the positioning of parties, and their assessment of the agenda of the political process. Analyzing electoral preferences, the researcher noted some current trends in the development of the Spanish party systemp[2,p.41].}

In the article, the author used a simultaneous comparative method, which allowed to identify the social base, the positioning of the leading parties in the political process and their evolution, to establish similarities and differences in election programs. An applied research method has also been applied – a secondary analysis of the results of questionnaire surveys conducted by the Spanish Center for Sociological Research. Considering the research plan, A.V. Baranov attracted a wide range of sources, namely regulatory legal acts of Spain, party programs and statements of leaders, materials of state statistics, opinion polls and the press.

On the issue of the current state of the Spanish political system, the author shared the position of his colleagues, S.M. Henkin and P.P. Yakovlev. However, A.V. Baranov linked the crisis and incomplete state of the political system primarily with the lack of fundamental transformations in the political and legal sphere ^{p[31,p.39]. The methodological framework chosen by the author contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the essence of the Spanish political crisis that began in 2015.}

The works of ^[6-7] A.A. Kurakina-Damir, a political scientist, researcher at the Center for Iberian Studies of the IE RAS, are qualitative analytical material on the election campaigns of the main parties in 2015-2019, their results. Using a simultaneous comparative method and content analysis, the author identified a number of current trends occurring in the Spanish political system, and also noted their impact on the development of a long-term crisis of executive power ^{p[33,p.55]. The author's chosen perspective of studying the political process predetermined the range of sources used. The priority for A.A. Kurakina-Damir were sources of a journalistic nature (materials of printed publications, election programs), official origin (data from state statistics) and public polls. At the same time, the political scientist ignored the video footage of the pre-election debates with the participation of the leaders of the leading parties in Spain and parliamentary documentation, materials that would allow for a more thorough study.}

The specifics of the coverage of the activities of new parties in Spain: "Citizens" and "Podemos"

In Russian Spanish studies, references to "Citizens" are fragmentary: only in the context of assigning qualifications to the party – "centrist" and "universal"^{p[17,p.95], "center-right"pp[3,p.136;6,p.27], "party broker and understudy NP"[2,c.40] , "the hinge party"p[3,p.94] . The latter definition is widely used in foreign political science literature, but its development is associated with the identification of the specifics of the post-war party and political system in Germany.}

A separate group of Spanish political experts addressed a common topic: the problem of determining the place of the Citizens party in the political spectrum and the characteristics of its ideological specificity. The "citizens" were described as follows: "floating party" (partido flotante)^[19] , "center-right"^[26] , "centrist" and "non-nationalist"^[30] . Unlike domestic researchers, Spanish analysts paid attention to "Citizens" at the time of their appearance. However, at the moment their interest in "Citizens" is waning, which is due to the political failures of the party at the national level.

A new research area was the analysis of the Podemos party, in particular, the phenomenon of its success. Both Spanish and domestic researchers paid special attention to the political and ideological orientation and communication strategy of Podemos. Scientists also addressed the problem of political leadership in the party, studied it using political science and socio-cultural analysis^[5]. As a result, the first detailed biographical work dedicated to the founder of the party appeared^[16].

Summing up, it is worth noting that the problems associated with the evolution of the Spanish political system are of interest to specialists in various scientific fields – political scientists, sociologists and economists. In general works on the state of modern Spanish politics, the problem of the transformation of the political system, its causes and manifestations has been posed and is being actively developed. From the point of view of studying the modern characteristics of the Spanish political system, the historiographical situation is as follows: researchers agree with its following state – the crisis of bipartisanship and executive power, transformation in evolution, the presence of factors determining the main vector of transformation of the political system – from bipartisanship to unstable multiparty system. Domestic scientists turned to various approaches to the study of the political system, namely institutional, genetic, systemic, and the concept of social separation; Spanish analysts considered this issue within the framework of electoral research. The discussion of the prospects for the evolution of the system is revealed: internal transformation or qualitative changes. Along with this, the similarity of the methodology used is noted: scientists relied on transitology, applied comparative analysis, discourse analysis and content analysis; and sources (electoral statistics, media materials).

Modern researchers and analysts have mostly paid their attention to the vibrant Podemos party, which is due to its loud rhetoric and opposition to the constitutional foundations of Spain. The characteristics of the "Podemos" are defined, but the "Citizens", despite the fact that the activity of the party is an indicator of modern processes in Spain, and this fact is not refuted by anyone, remain outside the research interest. The phenomenon of unexplored can be explained by the rapid loss of political influence by "Citizens" at the national level. The strangeness of this situation also lies in the fact that there is a solid body of sources – official materials (constitution, electoral law, parliamentary documentation, state statistics data) and journalistic (party-political documentation, inter-party agreements, the press), sources of personal origin; video materials of election debates. It is also possible to apply approaches, in particular, methods tested on the Podemos party, to the study of "Citizens", namely discourse analysis, political science and socio-cultural analysis. In the context of the historiographical situation, the study of the Citizens party is relevant from a scientific point of view. The study of the Citizens Party, based on an interdisciplinary approach, will allow us to form a full-fledged understanding of the Spanish party and its qualitative role in the political system. In turn, this will become an impetus for further development of the problem of the transformation of the Spanish political system at the present stage.