Instability of Social Life as Spanish Distinctiveness Khenkin S.M. Spain: Modern Unstable Society. Moscow: Aspect Press, 2023

Abstract

The published article represents a review of the monograph by S.M.Khenkin Spain: Modern Unstable Society. The monograph examines Spain’s experience at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, as a country that, due to historical circumstances, faces instability and unpredictability of development (so typical in the modern world) in an especially acute and concentrated manner. Khenkin identifies and describes, one by one, factors that characterize and explain the unstable state of the modern Spanish socio-political system, consistently integrating the current issues into the general context of the historical development of the Spanish society, its political and cultural traditions and comparing what is happening there with the situation in other European countries. Based on his research, he comes to the conclusion that several acute and persistent socio-political conflicts make high instability a distinctiveness of the country’s life. In the monograph the author provides careful and multilateral analysis of the transition from Francoism to consolidated democracy; various aspects of the ongoing transformations in the society; the specifics of the Spanish party-political system and its evolution; national-regional issue. He documents a radical change in the sentiments in the Spanish society with the appearance of a new generation, which clearly manifested in the reassessment of the transition, with harsh criticism replacing earlier approval, and in the conflict around “historical memory”. The author analyzes the relationship between the central government of the country and regional separatists and does not see any prospects for a prompt resolution of the conflict. According to his reasoned assessment, separation from Spain of any of its regions will inevitably cause irreparable damage to all parties to the conflict.