Nationalism and populism in Portugal and Spain: A real neighborhood?

For about half a century, Portugal and Spain lived under authoritarian regimes. Salazar and Franco controlled both countries with iron fists. They were supported by armies and the socially conservative forces and they developed a rather specific nationalist ideology. Salazar lacked that ideology in order to maintain the empire and so the official propaganda created his charismatic image as a God’s gift to the Portuguese people. Franco used it to join several nations under the same State, after a civil war which functioned as a catalyst for the Second World War. The Portuguese regime ended when the military forces considered that the government insisted on an impossible military solution to solve a political problem. In Spain, Franco died in bed, and he had enough time to prepare the transition for the monarchy. These different circumstances must be taken in consideration as far as the establishment of the new political system is concerned. In fact, after returning to democracy, both countries seemed to have buried nationalism because the new political parties rejected any connecting link to the previous regime. This was the main reason to keep the Iberian Peninsula almost free from extreme right-wing political parties and cultural populism for a long time. At the same time, the communist opposition was legalized and accepted as a member of the political system, but it did not have similar rights or performance in the two countries. However, the increasing dissatisfaction of the citizens with the democracy modus operandi led to a sentiment of anti-systematic populism, and later, with the 2011 economic crisis, led to the unconstitutional independence referendum in Catalonia contributed to the returning of nationalism and extreme right-wing populism while, in Portugal, a new populist party is starting to take advantage of the economic sacrifices and the increasing presence of immigrants. This essay proves that despite several similarities, nationalism and populism are different in both countries due to structural elements and objective conditions.