Notes regarding credits...

This course consists of 40 hours of instruction. However, students may earn 45 hours by attending supplemental sessions and completing additional coursework. Please check with your home university to find out whether you need 40 or 45 hours to earn course equivalents.

Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

High Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of five semesters (or seven quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

I. Introduction
The main objective of this class is to show the basic fundamentals of contemporary politics in Spain, especially its modern social and political structure. It is recommended that students who have taken Spanish Political Systems in the first semester and who also want to deepen their knowledge in this subject should take this class. References will be made to both social and cultural aspects.

II. Program
I. The territorial system of Spanish Democracy
1. The state of the autonomies. The state of the autonomies and the Spanish political system. Political and juridical foundation of the autonomies in Spain. Basic elements of the territorial system of the state.
2. The state of autonomies in action. The independence process in Spain. The autonomies of Art. 151 and Art. 143. The process of independence in Andalusia

III. Electoral and Party system in Spain.
3. The electoral system. Voting as a method of political participation. The electoral system and its problems. The electoral Spains.
4. The political parties in Spain (I). Tradition and partisan culture in Spain. The political parties as a form of political participation. The institutionalization of the political parties. The structure of the parties.
5. The political parties in Spain (II). The political parties with state boundaries. The political parties without state boundaries.
6. The party system in Spain. Political parties and the political system. The system of Spanish parties. The subsystems of autonomous parties in Spain. The party system in Andalusia.
7. Elections in Spain. The electoral opinions in Spain. General elections to Congress and the Senate. Municipal and autonomous elections. Elections to the European parliament.

IV. The political processes.
8. The political elites. The political elites in Spain: institutionalization. Parliamentary elites. Government elites and their parliamentary opposition and politics.
9. The pressure groups. Pressure groups and groups of interest. Old and new corporations in modern Spain. Business and syndicate organizations. The church.
10. The social movements. Origin and nature of the social movements in Spain. Its function in the political system. The form of social movements in Spain.
11. The governments. Governments and parliaments. Evolution of Spain: formation and constitution. Support, demands and results. Foreign Spanish politics: dimensions and basic problems.
12. The legislatures. The parliamentary legislatures. The principle actions and mechanisms of control. Legislative production.

V. Activities
The student should attend the class regularly to gain the most out of the material being discussed.
VI. Evaluation
There will be a mid term and final exam. There will also probably be other assignments that will help orient the student in their process of study.

VII. Bibliography
RAMOS GASC�"N, A., España hoy, vol. II, Madrid, Cátedra, 1991.
GARCÍA MORILLO, J., La democracia en España, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1996.
ROMÁN, P., (Coor.), Sistema político español, Madrid, McGraw-Hill, 1995.
Otra documentación utilizada: Se proyectarán películas y documentales relacionados con el temario.