Table Of ContentAgenda Dynamics in Spain
Comparative Studies of Political Agendas
Series editors:
Frank R. Baumgartner , Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political
Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Laura Chaqués-Bonafont, ICREA Professor of Political Science, University of
Barcelona and Research Fellow at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals
(IBEI), Spain
Christoffer Green-Pedersen, Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
Arco Timmermans, Research Director, Montesquieu Institute, The Hague and
Associate Professor of Comparative Public Policy, Institute of Public Adminis-
tration, Leiden University, Belgium
Frédéric Varone, Professor of Political Science, University of Geneva, Switzerland
The series publishes books on policy agenda-setting dynamics broadly under-
stood. This includes, for instance, books dealing with the policy effects of agenda
dynamics, the relationship between the political agenda, public opinion and the
media agenda, and agenda dynamics in relation to particular issues. The series
publishes both comparative books and books dealing with single countries, if
these single countries are placed in a comparative context. The books can be
either monographs or edited volumes.
Titles include:
Laura Chaqués-Bonafont, Anna M. Palau and Frank R. Baumgartner
AGENDA DYNAMICS IN SPAIN
Isabelle Engeli, Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Lars Thorup Larsen (e ditors )
MORALITY POLITICS IN WESTERN EUROPE
Parties, Agendas and Policy Choices
Peter John, Anthony Bertelli, Will Jennings and Shaun Bevan
POLICY AGENDAS IN BRITISH POLITICS
Comparative Studies of Political Agendas Series
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–230–35977–2 (Hardback)
978–0–230–35978–9 (Paperback)
(outside North America only)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order.
Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with
your name and address, the title of the series and one of the ISBNs quoted above.
Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England.
Agenda Dynamics in Spain
Laura Chaqués-Bonafont
ICREA Professor of Political Science, University of Barcelona and IBEI, Spain
Anna M. Palau
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Barcelona, Spain
and
Frank R. Baumgartner
Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
© Laura Chaqués-Bonafont, Anna M. Palau and Frank R. Baumgartner 2015
Reprint of the original edition 2015
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-55321-1 ISBN 978-1-137-32879-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137328793
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
For Fiona Gallach Chaqués
– LC
For Josep Mª Puig Obiols
– AMP
For Jennifer Thompson
– FRB
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
List of Abbreviations xvii
Part I Theory and Methods
1 Policy Dynamics in Democratic Spain 3
2 Data and Methods 19
Part II The Dynamics of Political Institutions in Spain
3 Broken Promises 49
4 The Content of the Government-Opposition Game 87
5 Media and Politics in Spain 112
Part III Policy Issues in an Agenda-Dynamics Approach
6 The Politics of Decentralization 139
7 Europeanization 173
8 Framing the Abortion Debate 199
Part IV Conclusions
9 Transformations in Spanish Politics, 1982–2013 2 29
Glossary 250
Appendices 251
vii
viii Contents
Notes 263
Bibliography 272
Index 285
List of Figures
3.1 Attention to the economy 57
3.2 Attention to defense and international affairs 6 1
3.3 Attention to governmental affairs by three prime ministers 64
3.4 Attention to terrorism and victims of terror attacks 66
3.5 Attention to rights related issues by three prime ministers 68
3.6 Legislative agenda-setting by the executive 7 6
3.7 Evolution of different types of laws 77
3.8 Mean percentage of negative votes for legislation 78
3.9 Broken promises 81
4.1 Average number of questions asked per session, by party 92
4.2 Number of questions per session 94
4.3 Number of non-ordinary questions, by year and by party 99
4.4 Spread of attention in parliamentary question time, by party 103
5.1 Percentage of stories without political content 120
5.2 P ercentage of stories about political scandals 121
5.3 Percentage of stories about the electoral horse race 124
5.4 Fragmentation of the media agenda 126
6.1 Regional identity, over time and by region 1 51
6.2 Preferences of Spanish citizens about the territorial
organization of power 152
6.3 Preferences of Catalan citizens about the territorial
organization of power 153
6.4 Attention to regionalization 154
6.5 Attention to fiscal autonomy as a percentage of all
attention to regionalization 156
6.6 Attention to issue transfer as a percentage of all
attention to regionalization 157
6.7 Attention to shared rule as a percentage of all attention
to regionalization 158
6.8 Attention to regions as veto players 165
6.9 Attention to political decentralization in the media
and public opinion 1 66
6.10 Attention to regional fiscal policy in the media 167
6.11 Political scandals at the regional level 170
6 .12 Tone of stories with regional content in El País 171
ix
x List of Figures
7.1 Percentage of legislation and oral questions that
have European content 177
7.2 Comparison of EU content in oral questions and
legislation, by topic area 179
7.3 Topics with rising EU-related attention 181
7.4 Topics with declining EU-related attention 182
7.5 Percentage of oral questions with EU content registered
by the government and opposition parliamentary groups 184
7.6 Agenda capacity and government attention to EU affairs 185
7.7 Public opinion perception of the economic situation
and benefits perceived from European integration 191
7.8 Attention to EU economic, fiscal, and monetary policy
by party group 194
8.1 Number of parliamentary initiatives introduced
on abortion 209
8.2 Frame use over time by political party 211
8.3 Public opinion on abortion 212
8.4 Parliamentary initiatives and news coverage of abortion 219
8.5 Net tone of abortion stories in El País and El Mundo 220
8 .6 Main frame mentioned in abortion stories in El País
and El Mundo 221
8.7 Main actors mentioned in abortion stories in El País
and El Mundo 222
