Unstable preferences and policy changes: Spain

Abstract

This chapter provides an account of the positions of Spanish policy-makers towards the major debates related to the recent Eurozone crisis and, furthermore, how these positions were developed through interactions with leading actors. The chapter focuses on the Greek bailout, the creation of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the incorporation of a debt brake into the Constitution of Member States. Attention is paid to the how, the why and the ‘major influences’, against the backdrop of the Great Recession. Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI) is combined with New (and Historic) Institutionalism and Garbage Can Theory (GCT) to interpret and explain decisions taken. Support for the narrative developed here comes from the triangulation of primary sources (interviews to key insiders present in the decision-making process) and secondary sources (newspaper clippings, official reports, memoirs of the main actors, academic literature and political debates in Congress).