LIBERALES Y LIBERALISMO EN ESPAÑA, 1810-1850. LA FORJA DE UN CONCEPTO Y LA CREACIÓN DE UNA IDENTIDAD POLÍTICA

Authors

  • JAVIER FERNÁNDEZ SEBASTIÁN

Keywords:

liberalism, liberal party, Spain, Europe, America, history of concepts,

Abstract

Most European histories of liberalism pay scant attention to Spanish and Latin- American liberal movements, probably simply due to deep-rooted prejudices. This article shows how hard it is to justify such a gap in the traditional history of ideas whether from a political/conceptual or a socio/cultural viewpoint. If we review even a few examples of Spanish political discourse in the first half of the 19th century taken from contemporary journals and pamphlets, we see how early Hispanic liberalism arose and its powerful spread into the wider context of Europe and the Americas. An historical analysis of how the concepts of a liberal party and Liberalism took off reveals a close link between the linguistic use of certain key notions in politics and the articulation of new actors, experiences and expectations. It also demonstrates the importance of these ambiguous, controversial, polemical notions in crystallising certain political identities that we could call intense drivers for those concerned.

Published

2008-03-24