Rebekah Ruiz Spain Revision Dr. Colley SPAIN Spain, conventionally known as the Kingdom of Spain and locally known as España, has a fairly new government. Spain was founded in 1716 with a constitutional democracy. Spain’s government was reconfigured in 1975 after the death of Dictator Fransisco Franco. Franco was in power for 35 years. Franco selected his successor Juan Carlos to continue his highly conservative reign, but when Juan Carlos came into power, the constitution was changed, and Spain returned to its Parliamentary Monarchy system. A Parliamentary Monarchy is an autocracy governed by a monarch. The monarch usually inherits the position. By defining the state as a parliamentary monarchy, the Constitution makes it clear that the king is not sovereign and that sovereignty resides with the people as expressed in their democratically elected parliament. The king is a hereditary and constitutional monarch, who serves as head of state. (U.S. Library of Congress) In 1978, as the new constitution was put into place. Juan Carlos became King Juan Carlos I de Borbón. The King’s duties include: serving as the head of state, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the highest representative in international matters. Following the King is Parliament with the Prime Minister at the top. Below the Prime Minister is the Council of Ministers. They take care of the executive branch. Behind the executive branch is the legislative branch, which is made up of the Chambers of General Courts, including Congress of Deputies and the Senate. (U.S. Library of Congress)
Spain imports far more than it exports due to a lack of resources in the nation. Its imports and exports are mainly throughout Europe. Spain’s key exports include: motor vehicles, food, medicine, machinery and pharmaceuticals. Spain’s imports mostly consist of oil. The gross domestic product (GDP) is $1.4 trillion. Per capita income is $25,250 per capita. The highest growth rate between 2004 and 2013 is listed as 1.35%. The Spanish currency is the Euro. Spain’s major import and export partners include: France, Germany, Portugal, Italy and China. (Trading Economics) Spain does not have an official religion. However, religion in Spain is vastly Catholic. The constitution formed in 1978 confirmed the right to religious freedom and Spaniards were able to start disestablishing themselves from Catholicism. 81-94% of people in the country consider themselves Catholic. Catholicism is practiced more as a part of the culture rather than the religion itself. Because of immigration, there are now more than 1 million Muslims living in Spain. A small population of Jews has migrated to Spain along with a few Protestant groups who are currently residing there. The official language of the country is Spanish but there are four institutional languages spoken in the country and those include: Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, and Basque 2%. (U.S. Library of Congress) According to the constitution, Spain has freedom of the press, although it is somewhat limited by the government. Freedomhouse.org has rated Spain a 27 on its 0-100 (0 being best and 100 being worst) scale of press freedom. Journalists and reporters complain that political leaders are quick to limit and ban certain questions. All press was controlled by Dictator Fransisco Franco during his time in that position. After his death and the reformation of the constitution, the press became something that was not controlled by the government; although, journalists have been known to receive large fines for printing things considered as
defamation. Few reports have been made of journalists being injured in any way by the government. The most recent report is from 2009 of an interaction with a police officer and a journalist at a protest with a group of students. As far as licensing is concerned, it is not a requirement to be a licensed journalist in Spain. Public Relations and advertising are rising and are expected to continue to do so. (Manea) The top 10 media companies in Spain include: Promotora de Informaciones, Vocento, Diario el Pais, Grupo Amcor Flexibles Hispania, The Walt Disney Co., Random House Monadori, Santillana Educacion, Vertice Trecientos Sesenta Grados, Diario de Navarra, and Cre a Impresiones de Catalunya. The people of Spain receive their news primarily through newspapers and television. There are roughly 224 television stations and 924 radio stations throughout the country. Internet is a newer concept for Spaniards. All media had to pass through the state until the constitution of 1978 was put into place and guaranteed the rights of a free press and outlawed prior censorship. (Press Reference) In Spain’s recent news, abortion has obtained incredibly tight restrictions, and it has been a main focus in the country. A secret vote was taken to move these restrictions into place, and the majority of the population is unhappy about it. Because Spain has a Parliamentary Monarchy system, the citizens were unable to have input on the matter. The Guardian, The World Post, and El Mundo have articles written about these events. The Guardian’s article, Spain's tough new abortion law advances after secret vote, published on February 11th 2014, mostly focused on the views from Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon and Isabel Serrano. It had the most factual report of the situation. It gave details and reports from all sides. The article was written by Ashifa Kassam; a female reporter. Between the two there were 7 quotes
and the article ran a total of 675 words. The topic of abortion is usually more sensitive to women, so it was almost surprising to see practically no bias in one way or the other throughout the piece. The World Postâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article, Spain's Government Approves Restrictive Abortion Law was published on December 20 th 2013 and runs a total of 413 words. The article contains one quote from Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon. One of the writers on the article was an Englishman named Harold Heckle. It seemed to be mostly an interview piece rather than an opinion piece or a factual one. There were a few general facts about the new laws in place but none that would show a bias. El Mundoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article, Sin referencias a la 'ley Wert' ni al aborto en el discurso de Rajoy was written in Spanish. It was published on February 5th 2014, it runs a total of 473 words and contains five quotes from concerned citizens. It solely encompassed the negative views that citizens had on the situation. Soraya Rodriguez, Josep Antoni Duran, Jose Luis Centella, Rosa Diez and Aitor Esteban all spoke on their feelings toward the issue at hand. Of course, El Mundo is a publication straight out of Spain. Much of the population is highly against this decision. As a whole, Spain is making its way back into the world after its long stint with a dictator. It seems to be progressing again economically after a few years of downturn. It is predicted to continue to grow and thrive in this world. Works Cited Hernandez, Marisol. "Sin referencias a la "ley Wert" ni al ni el aborto al discurso de Rajoy." El Mundo. N.p., 25 Feb 2014. Web. 27 Feb 2014. <http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2014/02/25/530ca208ca4741a3088b457f.html>. Harold Heckle, Ciarian Giles. N.p.. Web. 27 Feb 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/20/spain-restrictive-abortionlaw_n_4481849.html>.
Kassam, Ashifa. "Spain's tough new abortion law advances after the secret vote." The Guardian. N.p., 11 February 2014. Web. 27 Feb 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/12/spain-tough-new-abortion-law-secretvote>. Manea, Corina. Everything PR. Spain: Advertising Investment Will Grow in 2014. www.everything-pr.com. Web. 4 May 2014. http://everything-pr.com/spain-advertising2014/246779/ Press Reference. Spain. www.pressreference.com. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.pressreference.com/Sa-Sw/Spain.html> Trading Economics. Spain GDP Per Capita. www.tradingeconomics.com. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.tradingeconomics.com/spain/gdp-per-capita> U.S. Library of Congress. King, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Country Studies. www.countrystudies.us. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://countrystudies.us/spain/76.htm>