PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF THE SPANISH BORBON MONARCHY

Abstract

Unlike the European monarchies that survive today because they never opposed their conversion into parliamentary monarchies, the Spanish monarchy, because of its illiberal character, was sent into exile on two occasions: with Isabel II and with Alfonso XIII. In addition, it unleashed civil wars that were alien to the interests of the Spanish people, because they were only fought to decide purely dynastic problems. For these reasons, the Spanish monarchy did not deserve to be restored, for the third time, in the person of Juan Carlos I. Today, however, the monarchy represents a dike in Spain to prevent the disintegration of Spain and to face two types of republicanism: the Bolivarian of Unidas Podemos and the pro-independence model of the Catalan and Basque nationalist parties.