HISTORY OF CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL MISTRUST IN SPAIN (1750-1975)

SINCE THE ENLIGHTENMENT REFORMS OF THE 18TH CENTURY AND THE BEGINNINGS OF LIBERALISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY, CORRUPTION HAS BECOME A POLITICAL ISSUE CLOSELY LINKED TO MODERNITY AND OPPOSED TO THE CORRUPTION OF THE ANCIEN REGIME, WHETHER IN FRANCE, IN SPAIN WITH THE OPPOSITION TO GODOY'S MINISTERIAL DESPOTISM, OR THE SO-CALLED OLD CORRUPTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. STARTING FROM THE PATRONAGE AND CLIENTELE SYSTEMS OF LIBERAL SOCIETIES, CORRUPTION BECAME A MARKER OF SENSIBILITIES AND THRESHOLDS OF TOLERANCE, IN THE MIDST OF THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL POWER RELATIONS AND THE NEW RAISON D'ETAT. CORRUPTION ACCOMPANIED THE TRANSITION OF CULTURAL FORMS - CIVIC MORALITY, THE NORMS OF THE PUBLIC GOOD OR GENERAL INTEREST - AND INFLUENCED THE POLITICISATION OF CITIZENS IN THE MIDST OF INDUSTRIALISATION, URBANISATION AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF THE STATE. WE HAVE REACHED THIS POINT AS A RESULT OF OUR RESEARCH WORK, BUT ALSO MOVED BY A CIVIC CONCERN THAT NEEDS TO TRACE THOSE HISTORICAL KEYS THAT HAVE SHAPED OUR CIVIC CULTURE. THIS CONCERN STEMS FROM THE POPULIST DISCOURSES IN EUROPE AND AMERICA WHICH, BY INSISTENTLY INVOKING THE CORRUPTION OF POLITICIANS, PARTIES AND INSTITUTIONS, PUT DEMOCRATIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN CHECK, DEVALUING THE VERY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. THE CRISIS OF POLITICAL TRUST AS A GLOBAL PHENOMENON HAS ITS OWN HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND PARTICULAR EXPRESSION IN SPAIN, UNDERMINING INSTITUTIONS, PARTIES AND THE POLITICAL CLASS. TO WHAT EXTENT DOES SPAIN BELONG TO THE "CLUB" OF SOCIETIES WHERE DISTRUST HAS HISTORICALLY PREVAILED? THE FREQUENCY OF POLITICAL-FINANCIAL SCANDALS, OR THE CONTRAST BETWEEN RULES AND EXPECTATIONS PRODUCED BY FISCAL POLICIES, HAVE BEEN JUST SOME OF THE ELEMENTS THAT HAVE HISTORICALLY CONTRIBUTED TO EXPLAINING THE VULNERABILITY OF INSTITUTIONS AND PARTIES. AMONG THOSE ELEMENTS OF CIVIC CULTURE THAT COULD EXPLAIN THE HIGH PERCEPTION OF CORRUPTION IN SPAIN, WE COULD LIST THE INVETERATE DISTRUST OF CITIZENS TOWARDS INSTITUTIONS, THE POLITICAL CLASS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, AT DIFFERENT LEVELS, NATIONAL AND LOCAL. IN TURN, THE UNEQUAL ACCESS TO DECISION-MAKING AND TO THE CENACLES OF POLITICAL POWER, AS WELL AS THE BELIEF THAT CORRUPTORS HAVE USUALLY RECEIVED A WEAK PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR CRIMES. IN RELATION TO THE CHRONOLOGICAL ENDS OF THE PROJECT, 1750-1975, ONE OF THE KEY ASPECTS THAT THE RESEARCH GROUP PROPOSES IS NONE OTHER THAN TO ESTABLISH THE DEGREE OF CHANGES AND CONTINUITIES BETWEEN THE ANCIEN REGIME AND THE LIBERAL PERIOD, EMPHASISING THE DISCOURSES SURROUNDING THE IDEA OF CORRUPTION, BOTH FROM AN INTELLECTUAL POINT OF VIEW AND INCLUDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE COMMON MAN. IN ITS FINAL PART, THE PROJECT WOULD END IN 1975 BY INCLUDING SOME ELEMENTS OF STUDY AND REFLECTION ON THE POLITICAL CORRUPTION OF THE FRANCO REGIME.