Makeover of Southern Europe

Marking fifty years since the democratic transitions in Greece, Portugal, and Spain, this book traces how three countries that broke free from authoritarian rule in the mid-1970s have navigated consolidation, crisis, and the enduring tension between structural constraints and political agency to become, and remain, democracies.

Drawing on the latest comparative research, The Makeover of Southern Europe traces the full arc of Southern Europe's democratic experience: from the turbulent transitions of the mid-1970s, through the consolidation of the 1980s and the modernisation that followed EU membership, to the severe stress tests imposed by the 2008 financial crisis and the more recent rise of populism and far-right politics. Covering institutions, political parties, gender equality, national identity, political trust, and public attitudes towards European integration, the book shows that shared historical origins do not produce identical destinies. Structural conditions set the stage, but it is the choices of political leaders, parties, and citizens that ultimately determine whether democracies endure.

This book will be an important tool for researchers studying Southern European politics and economics. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

Jorge M. Fernandes is a Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the Institute of Public Goods and Policies, CSIC, Madrid. His research spans political representation, electoral systems, and party competition. He is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics and holds an ERC Consolidator Grant.

Nuno Garoupa is Professor of Law and Faculty Director of Graduate Studies at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. He has previously held positions at Texas A&M University, University of Illinois, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His research spans law and economics, comparative judicial politics, and empirical legal studies.

Maria Jose Hierro is a Lecturer in Political Science at Yale University. Her research examines the drivers of national identity, national attitudes, and secession. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, South European Society and Politics, West European Politics, and Nations and Nationalism.

Sofia Vasilopoulou is Professor of European Politics at King's College London. A former co-Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Political Research, her research examines political dissatisfaction, Euroscepticism, and far-right politics. She is the author of Far Right Parties and Euroscepticism and has published widely in leading comparative politics journals.