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Abstract

This article shows the different ways in which liberalism and democracy came together in liberal Spain. In some cases (Castelar), the conjunction was total with the achievement of universal suffrage in 1890. In others, such as institutionalism, accommodation to the Canovist regime was riddled with conflict and approached on the basis of demand for social reform and political democracy. Although republican, the democratic liberals remained open to a compromise with the monarchy if it respected democratic principles. José Canalejas also ushered in new links between liberalism and democracy, but from within the regime, with the firm idea of strengthening the monarchy, the parliament and the nation. Canalejas did not think it was necessary to change the regime or even bring about constitutional reform in order to fulfil modern democratic ideals. However, on his death, the problems had changed. Now it became a matter of how to govern in a new mass society and how liberalism could respond towards the situation triggered by the Soviet revolution and the eclosion of fascism. The intellectuals, headed by Ortega, presented themselves as the new gurus of public opinion. Within this new framework, the liberal ideals formed part of the intellectual baggage that was behind the birth of the Second Republic. But it did not manage to lay down the rails along which Spanish politics would run in the thirties.