The turno pacfico system, although fraudulent and corrupt, was the best means to ensure political stability in nineteenth-century Spain. Discuss and evaluate critically.

Authors Avatar

Nicholas Bethell-Collins        Spain in the 19th Century        14 December 2010

        1793 Words

2. The turno pacífico system, although fraudulent and corrupt, was the best means to ensure political stability in nineteenth-century Spain. Discuss and evaluate critically.

Following the fall of the First Spanish Republic on December 29th 1874 and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the wheels of change began to turn in Spain with Antonio Cánovas Del Castillo at its helm – a former minister of the Unión Liberal, whose political rationale was seen as reactionary and unquestionably undemocratic, but whose pragmatism can be said to have solved some of the social and political problems of the time. The entire restoration’s success is universally attributed to Cánovas’ work in the years leading up to 1874 and is synonymous with his name. It aimed at distancing the government entirely from the old-style military rule, by modelling the political system on that of Britain’s – one that he admired, and “whose leaders’ speeches he was reputed to learn by heart.”
Having retired from government following the 1868
Revolución Gloriosa, Cánovas returned to political office with the upheaval of general Martínez Campos and orchestrated the coronation of Alfonso XII – the son of Isabelle II and his own role as Prime Minister of Spain. His vision for a ‘new Spain’ during the subsequent six years in office as Prime Minister, involved his creation of another Constitution in 1876, as well as a set of realistic and utterly pragmatic developments by which he hoped to ease the volatile nature of Spanish political society and of society as a whole. His style of governance can be characterised by his willingness to compromise on polemical matters, as opposed to sticking with the party-line, with the intention of achieving concrete results and solving the problems he saw within the system as far as he realistically could when taking into account the fickle nature of Spanish society at this time. As stated by Christopher Ross: Cánovas’ role as architect “had persuaded almost all Spaniards of any influence not only that the monarchy must be restored, but that Alfonso was the legitimate and only realistic candidate.”
In order for his system to function therefore, all he required was that the ‘non-influential Spaniards’ were either converted to support Alfonso or indeed himself.

Join now!

Cánovas idolised the variation of political and economic beliefs within the British political parties, and endeavoured to create a system of government based on their model. He saw their ability for power to “change hands […] without military involvement”- a major concern for Cánovas and a common sight in nineteenth century Spain – and after nearly a century of political volatility and many civil wars, Spain needed something new.
His way of maintaining a stable political system, under threat from military, Catholic and Carlist power bases and resolving the relative ‘backwardness’ of Spain at the time was to introduce a scheme ...

This is a preview of the whole essay