How Did Spain Influence Political Culture

Spain was once a powerful empire between the 16th and 17th century, the empire expanded from central Europe to North and South America, the Philippines, and many Caribbean islands. That all came to a halt when England started controlling the seas. The War of Succession (1701-1714) to the Spanish Crown marked the end of the dynasty of the Habsburgs and the coming of the Bourbon. King Phillip was able to strengthen the monarchy and was able to unite varies region. Under the Bourbon ruling, the nation struggle to regain their strength after being unstable in the Peninsula War. Ferdinand became king in 1813 but in 1814 he declared the 1812 constitution null and void and made it clear he intended to rule as an absolute monarch. However this lead to an uprising, forcing the king to accept the constitution. Ferdinand died in 1833 and Spain was plunged into a civil war between liberals and …show more content…
Those experiences have influence the citizens on how the political system should be. Spain's political culture consists more of an overlap of different regional political culture then of a one main one. There are 17 autonomous regions and 17 regions either form a nice geographical border are have an uneven size and pattern. Holding these disparate parts together is difficult given the historic penchant of Spaniards to identify themselves first with their village (pueblo) and then with their region, the patria chica (small homeland). The Basques, Catalans , Galicians, and the Castilians regions each have their own unique culture, ethnicities , and religion. They are recognized as separate ethnic groups and have the right to use their own languages in education and administration. Different from what is seen here in the United States. With the increasing influence of the Basque and Catalan regional parties in national politics, the whole question of regional power and autonomy has taken on a new