STATES AND ACTIONS FROM BELOWIN IBERIAN TRANSITIONS TO DEMOCRACY To Juan J. Linz in Memoriam
This essay compares two outstanding cases of regime transition -- Spain vis-a-vis Portugal -- in order to address the question of variations in popular mobilization. The author is interested in particular in recognizing the importance of collective action and the State in transitional dynamics. Social mobilizations are crucial factors forcing the replacement of the dictatorship by a democratic regime, shaping the transition pathway, and even affecting the democratic nature of the regime which replaces the dictatorship. This paper shows that the moderate or transgressive nature of collective behaviour during regime change depends on what perceptions particular social groups have of the State, which in a Weberian sense is dynamic and multidimensional.