f Introduction: a letter from the Editor

It is a privilege and a pleasure to have taken over as the new editor of IJIS, and I thank the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Contemporary Iberian Studies for appointing me last year. IJIS has served a key role in the dissemination of scholarly knowledge about Spain and Portugal to universities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the English-speaking world since the mid-1980s. The task benefited exceedingly from the skilful editorship of my predecessor Hugh O’Donnell and from the quality of the contributions submitted. Due in part to its multidisciplinary approach, IJIS stands out as the only academic journal devoted exclusively to the study of modern Spanish and Portuguese history, society, politics and culture. This is its great strength.