Spain FOREIGN RELATIONS
View of Ceuta
Courtesy National Tourist Office of Spain
Spain's remote position on the southwest periphery of
Western
Europe has affected much of its history, even when it
belonged to
the Roman, the Habsburg, and the Napoleonic empires. The
Pyrenees
have presented a formidable land barrier against both
invasions
and influences from the north. At the same time, Spain's
location
at the western entrance of the Mediterranean has impelled
the
country to play the role of an important maritime power
and has
enabled it to act as a bridge among Europe, Africa, and
the
Americas.
In the nineteenth century, Spain, beset by political
instability deriving from the cataclysm of the French
Revolution
as well as from its own later failure to participate in
the
Industrial Revolution, withdrew behind its borders. After
suffering a humiliating defeat by the United States in the
Spanish-American War and losing its last colonies in the
Philippines and the New World, Spain's focus turned even
further
inward. Neutral in both world wars, Spain found that its
isolation deepened during the Franco years, intensified by
the
ostracism the country experienced because of its
associations
with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.
After the Nationalist victory in the Civil War, the
Franco
regime devoted itself primarily to domestic affairs,
relegating
foreign considerations to a secondary position. The
primary
concerns were to establish political stability and to
ensure
economic reconstruction and development. Spanish diplomacy
was an
instrument with which the government tried to obtain
political
legitimacy and to gain Spain's acceptance by the
international
community. Franco played the leading role in pursuing
these
foreign policy goals, as he did in every other aspect of
his
government.
Spain's pariah status following World War II
strengthened
Franco's internal position, solidifying the support of the
Spanish people behind their beleaguered leader.
Nevertheless, as
Spain began to benefit from mounting Cold War tensions,
from
signing an agreement with the United States, and from
achieving
United Nations (UN) membership, the siege mentality of the
Spanish people lessened
(see Foreign Policy under Franco
, ch. 1).
Data as of December 1988
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