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- Volume 23, Issue 2, 2010
International Journal of Iberian Studies - Volume 23, Issue 2, 2010
Volume 23, Issue 2, 2010
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Engineering or environmentalism: Changing views of the water question in Spain
More LessLa desigual distribucin de los recursos hdricos en Espaa, debido a la diversidad climtica de la Pennsula, se ha contemplado tradicionalmente como una grave limitacin al desarrollo econmico general. Desde finales del siglo XVIII se propugna una poltica de redistribucin de recursos mediante grandes obras hidrulicas, que culmin en los grandes proyectos de transferencias entre cuencas (desde el Tajo hacia el Sureste peninsular y desde el Ebro hacia Levante y Sur). Finalizando el siglo XX y desde puntos de vista ambientalistas y sociales, se critica esta poltica de oferta, desarrollando un nuevo discurso que tiene como objetivo regular la demanda de agua utilizando la planificacin territorial y aplicando criterios ambientalistas. Los discursos tericos se han trasmitido al debate poltico general de forma fragmentada y con diferentes matices, segn se trate de territorios que disponen de mayor o menor abundancia de recursos propios. La estructura del Estado espaol permite que los distintos puntos de vista se utilicen como argumentos polticos contradictorios en las distintas regiones, incluso ms all de las fronteras ideolgicas entre partidos. La inquietud social, generada tanto en los territorios que exigen ms agua como en aquellos que habran de cederla en su caso, se utiliza para robustecer el apoyo popular de unos u otros con fines electorales.
The unequal distribution of water resources in Spain, due to climatic variations in the Peninsula, has traditionally been seen as a serious limitation on economic development. Since the end of the eighteenth century the emphasis has been on a policy of redistribution of resources by means of major hydraulic infrastructure works, which culminated in the major projects for transferring water between rivers (from the Tagus to the southwest of the Peninsula and from the Ebro to the Levante and to the south). Towards the end of the twentieth century, and from an environmental and social perspective, this policy of supply has come under attack, leading to the development of a new discourse that aims to regulate the demand for water through regional planning and the application of environmental criteria. Academic debates entered the general political arena in a fragmented manner and with differing emphases in different regions, depending on the extent to which they had sufficient water resources or not. The structure of the Spanish state is such that different points of view are used in different regions to sustain contradictory political arguments, which go beyond the ideological differences between political parties. Social concern, both in the territories which demand more water and in those who have to give it away, is often used to electoral advantage in order to increase popular support for one side or the other.
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Boom to bust Reconstructing the Spanish economy
By Keith SalmonRecession in Spain led to intervention by the government to stimulate the economy, a response that was replicated around the world. But as public finances deteriorated, financial markets and some policy makers demanded credible austerity measures (exit strategies) to reduce growing public sector debts. There was particular external pressure on Spain since any sovereign debt default would have serious repercussions at least throughout the European Union. Thus, from autumn 2009 stimulus measures began to be withdrawn and replaced by austerity ones. In addition, recession highlighted fundamental weaknesses in the Spanish economic model. Part one of this article (Salmon 2010) charted the passage of the Spanish economy into recession through examining key three features that were specific to Spain, the financial system, conditions in the property market, and the exceptional level of unemployment. The second part examines the macroeconomic policy measures taken in Spain and the outlook for a new economic model. It concludes that Spain had little alternative but to severely tighten fiscal policy and that a new economic model will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
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El pasado con nosotros. Reality, nacin y memoria televisiva en Espaa
More LessEste trabajo aborda, desde la perspectiva del anlisis cualitativo de contenido, el reality televisivo espaol Curso del 63, cuya primera temporada fue emitida en el otoo de 2009, por el canal privado Antena 3 en horario de mxima audiencia. El estudio propone una aproximacin a sus modalidades discursivas sobre el pasado, en oposicin a otros formatos tradicionales de representacin histrica en la pequea pantalla, como las series de ficcin o los telefilmes. Para ello, relaciona dicho programa con diferentes extensiones sobre la evocacin de lo colectivo en televisin (la memoria cosmopolita y nacional), y subraya los rasgos distintivos que puede mantener el espacio ante otras ofertas equiparables, espaolas o europeas. Finalmente, discute el grado de historicidad de este producto.
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Los Gitanos (Gypsies) in La Corua, Spain: Neither socially included nor integrated?
More LessHistorically throughout Spain, the gitano (Gypsy) culture has been met with racism, discrimination and persecution. In recent years, however, there have been increasing efforts to integrate gitanos into mainstream Spanish society. However, little attention has been paid to the progress in La Corua in Galicia. While gitano numbers do not match those in other parts of Spain, in La Corua over the last 30 years, increasingly the gypsy population has been associated with illicit drug markets, crime and damaging drug use. In the face of protest from the local non-gypsy community, the local council has adopted coercive measures to relocate the gitanos throughout different areas of the city centre in an effort to integrate them into mainstream Spanish society. However, there is still clear division between the local community and the gitanos, and the level to which they are integrated in the local non-gypsy community is not clear. This article explores these issues in detail and offers some preliminary findings from ethnographic research that is being undertaken in La Corua.
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On victims and heroes: Spatial referents and social models in self-representation of the anti-Franco workers movement
More LessIn this article I suggest that individual memory is selective causing gaps in collective memory that need to be analysed and interpreted in order to understand how communities shape their past. I will illustrate my argument by presenting autobiographical accounts of different members of the anti-Franco workers movement in the 1960s and 1970s in Spain. Here, the use of self-representation as a means to explain the past poses some problems. In the first place, the history of the anti-Franco movement will have to broaden its focus in order to fully understand how the opposition's memory is constructed and reconstructed in all its complexity. Secondly, what gives meaning to a witness account are the spatial references and references to social models that determine what is memorable and what is not, as well as defining the heroes and the victims. Omissions are likely. More recently, however, with an increasing number of autobiographical accounts appearing alongside an increasingly significant historiography, it is possible to see how they mutually affect, often in unrecognized ways, memory and history in the construction of their narratives about the past.
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 37 (2024)
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Volume 36 (2023)
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Volume 35 (2022)
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Volume 34 (2021)
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Volume 33 (2020)
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Volume 32 (2019)
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Volume 31 (2018)
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Volume 30 (2017)
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Volume 29 (2016)
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Volume 28 (2015)
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Volume 27 (2014)
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Volume 26 (2013)
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Volume 25 (2012)
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Volume 24 (2011 - 2012)
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Volume 23 (2010)
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Volume 22 (2009)
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Volume 21 (2008)
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Volume 20 (2007)
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Volume 19 (2006 - 2007)
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Volume 18 (2005)
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Volume 17 (2004)
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Volume 16 (2003 - 2004)
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Volume 15 (2002 - 2003)
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Volume 14 (2001)