Transition und Europäisierung in Spanien und Portugal: Sozial- und christdemokratische netzwerke im übergang von der diktatur zur parlamentarischen demokratie

Whereas the historiography on the current European Union still focuses on the state, the societal history of Europe since 1945 has scarcely dealt with transnational dimensions or shown much interest in the process of integration. Influenced by modern social science approaches to study the EU Eastern enlargement as a process of a comprehensive 〉Europeanization〈 of Europe, this article addresses transnational political networks and their importance in terms of the socialisation of the elites in Spain and Portugal in the transition from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy, a process which finally facilitated the EEC accession of both states in 1986. In this context, networks by Social Democratic and Christian Democratic political parties and foundations are compared. Such an approach enables to develop some preliminary hypotheses regarding the conditions for the formation of transnational networks as well as regarding a successful socialisation and 〉Euro-peanization〈 within the integration process not only as a political and institutional but also as a social phenomenon. This result is shown by comparing the two types of parties on the one hand and the EEC Southern enlargement and the EU Eastern enlargement in a diachronic perspective on the other.