Abstract

The article introduces this issue of "Ricerche di Storia Politica" by placing Spain's transition to democracy within a broader cross-national comparative perspective. It takes into account above all those political transitions which took place in Europe in the late Fourties and Fifties. The comparison revolves around three main questions: 1. the relevance of the international context and, more generally, how political transitions were conditioned by foreign influences; 2. the conflict between moderatism and radicalism, and how it interacted with the relationship between political élites and public opinion; 3 the historical evolution of political systems and, in particular, the decline of parties as key-institutions in European politics.