甘肃“借智”探书法艺术：重返传统 增文化自信

The basics

Spain is a unitary constitutional monarchy but with a strong regionalist culture, divided into 17 autonomous communities. It has a king, currently Felipe VI, and a Prime Minister (confusingly often called the presidente), ^note or presi for short currently Pedro Sánchez.

• The king of Spain is a ceremonial figure, but is still a nice attraction for tourists and the like. The monarchy was restored to Spain after Francisco Franco left the title to the last king's grandson^note skipping his son, who didn't agree with his views. It didn't work, as the new king still gave up most of Franco's powers, and the king, Juan Carlos I, reigned from 1975 until his abdication under a cloud in 2014, after a series of scandals which damaged confidence in the monarchy. The current king is the markedly more popular Felipe VI who, despite many Spaniards not disliking him personally, hasn't quite managed to bring the monarchy back to its former respectability.
• The Cortes Generales - the parliament - is split into two houses, the Congreso de los Diputados (lower) and the Senado (upper). Both houses are elected every four years, and have their power split fairly equally (although the Congreso can overrule the Senado with a supermajority).
• After an election, the Cortes meets to decide on the Prime Minister (often called the presidente, or presi for short), who has to run the country. The PM is then subject to an investiture vote, which is always partisan.
  • The King will appoint any leader who can pass an investiture vote. This can often be pretty messy when no party gets a majority of seats, which hasn't happened since 2008. This often requires a series of coalitions, and when one party pulls out (such as Ciudadanos in 2018 to bring down Mariano Rajoy), the Congreso will vote to remove the current PM. They can do a couple of things in this instance:
  • Try and find support from other parties. Good luck with that.
  • Get the other side to find a PM who has confidence. This is what happened in 2018, and Pedro Sánchez won an investiture vote with a view to calling a snap election.
  • Call an early election and hope for the best.

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The political parties

From the establishment of democracy to around 2012, Spain was pretty much a two-party system, with the Partido Popular and PSOE swapping power. Nowadays, after both the 15-M protests in 2011 being a near disaster for the PSOE; and various scandals in the 2010s bringing down the PP, it's more open; and voters have a variety of parties to pick from. They also have regional parties, some of which are listed here.

Sumar

Leader: ??? ^note Originally Yolanda Díaz, but she resigned in 2024

Founded: 2022

Cortes seats: 27

Senate seats: 3

• This is a very loose alliance of like-minded left-wing parties which was formed for the 2023 election. It was formed mostly by the parties Podemos and Izquerda Unida, the first of which at one stage looked like they might even beat the PSOE to become Spain's left-wing party, but the PSOE managed to recover. The alliance, however, is extremely shaky, to the point that Podemos walked out in 2023 having largely accepted a very bad deal in joining. It was most recently led by Yolanda Díaz, who resigned after a bad EU election performance in 2024.

Partido Socialista Obrero Espa?ol (PSOE)

Leader: Pedro Sánchez

Founded: 1879

Cortes seats: 120

Senate seats: 88

Spain's traditional left-wing party. Led by Felipe González for 22 years, it was in government for a while before losing in 1996. It had a heavy relationship with trade unions for a while, yet since the late 80s they've diverged significantly.

In 2004, it got back into government with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who legalised same-sex marriage in a traditionally staunchly Catholic country, yet lost in 2011 after horrifically managing the 2008 crash. Since 2014 it's been led by Pedro Sánchez, known as El Guapo for his Hunk appeal; and has managed to somehow stay in government since 2018.

Partido Popular (PP)

Leader: Alberto Nú?ez Feijóo

Founded: 1989

Cortes seats: 137

Senate seats: 140

Originally a vehicle for Francoist reactionaries, it moved towards electability in the 80s and got into government in 1996. It got back into government in 2011, but the Gürtel scandal^note a massive corruption scandal in which over 100 PP politicians were implicated damaged confidence in them and led to both the formation of Vox in 2014 and a vote of no confidence led by PSOE ousting PM Mariano Rajoy in 2018. After him, Pablo Casado took the party further to the right, enough to allow alliances with Vox, but quit after allegations he spied on potential leadership rival and Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The current leader is Alberto Nú?ez Feijóo, the veteran Boring, but Practical candidate who very nearly took them back into government in 2023.

Vox

Leader: Santiago Abascal

Founded: 2014

Cortes seats: 33

Senate seats: 3

A splinter group from the PP led by Santiago Abascal - considered Spain's equivalent to Donald Trump. Came into Parliament in 2019 and made headlines after appealing to the courts which declared Spain's first COVID lockdown illegal, forcing the government to return all fines to citizens. Suffered a surprise drop in support in 2023, largely attributed to their aggressive style turning off potential voters, who stuck with the PP.

Esquerra Republicana

Leader: Oriol Junqueras

Founded: 1931

Cortes seats: 7

Senate seats: 6

Catalan Parliament seats: 20

A left-wing, pro-independence party in Catalonia, which started up as a political force in the Second Republic and the Civil War. After suffering a drop in support after the establishment of democracy, it had a revival of fortunes in the 21st century, even getting the regional presidency for the first time in 2021, and supported Sánchez's coalition in 2023; yet this cost them dearly in the regional elections the next year, where the PSOE took voters away who were ambivalent towards independence. Only stands in Catalan seats.

Junts

Leader: Carles Puigdemont

Founded: 2020

Cortes seats: 7

Senate seats: 3

Catalan Parliament seats: 35

Another pro-independence party (right-wing this time) established by exiled Carles Puigdemont in 2020. A party which managed to secure a controversial amnesty for crimes relating to the 2017 secession referendum as part of a deal with Sánchez, to get him over the line in the investiture vote. Like Esquerra Republicana, it only stands in Catalan seats.

Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea / Partido Nacionalista Vasco

Leader: Andoni Ortuzar

Founded: 1895

Cortes seats: 5

Senate seats: 5

Basque Parliament seats: 27

Centrist Basque nationalist party which has been in government in the country since 1979 (apart from an interruption from 2009 to 2012 due to a PSOE-PP government - yes, it can actually happen). It also doesn't just operate in Spain, with a presence in Euskadi^note the Basque Country in Spain, the French Basque Country, the Navarre Region and across the world in the Basque diaspora. It only stands in the Basque Country and as part of a Basque-friendly coalition called Geroa Bai in Navarre.

EH Bildu

Leader: Arnaldo Otegi

Founded: 2012

Cortes seats: 6

Senate seats: 5

Basque Parliament seats: 27

Navarre Parliament seats: 9

Basque nationalist party which is the biggest force on the Basque left. Has a core vote in the Basque Country and has recently become popular among the youth for focusing on young people's issues more than the constitution, but has faced criticism from the right as the heirs of ETA.

Podemos

Leader: Ione Belarra

Founded: 2014

Cortes seats: 4

Senate seats: 0

Left-wing party formed in the aftermath of the landmark 15-M protests by Pablo Iglesias Turrión (named after PSOE founder Pablo Iglesias Posse) and looked to possibly eclipse the PSOE as Spain's left-wing party, yet after the 2016 elections it suffered a fall from grace and ended up contesting the 2023 election as part of Sumar. It split from them at the end of the year.

Se Acabó la Fiesta

Leader: Alvise Pérez

Founded: 2024

Cortes seats: 0

Senate seats: 0

This party was founded by influencer Alvise Pérez, who was originally a member of the moderate right-wing party Ciudadanos (more on them later) and the Lib Dems in the UK. Nonetheless, during the COVID-19 Pandemic he seemed to have an eureka moment and started up a party to the right of Vox just before the European elections, confusing even Vox in the process. Problematically for Vox, it split the right-wing vote in those elections, and SALF managed to gain three seats in the European Parliament.

Ciudadanos

Leader: Patricia Guasp

Founded: 2006

Cortes seats: 0

Senate seats: 0

Centre to centre-right party formed in Catalonia as an anti-separatist party, and later expanded nationally to capitalise on the PP's growing unpopularity, a place for anti-PP voters who were unimpressed by Vox. It very nearly eclipsed the PP as the main centre-right party but after refusing to go into government with the PSOE in April 2019]], it suffered a near-wipeout at the rerun in November. It didn't contest the 2023 elections, and had lost all representation by 2024.

There are six main general TV channels in Spain, established by the PSOE government in the 1980s to provide TVE with some competition. Even this was quite politically motivated, and even down to what channel you watch sometimes marks one's political affiliation. Since 2024, Spanish TV has been available in HD only.

Televisión Espa?ola

TVE is the state broadcaster, originally supported by both adverts and subsidies but since 2010 has got rid of adverts. It has four main channels (plus a rolling news channel):

• La 1 is the mainstream channel with news, dramas, soaps, game shows and films.
• La 2 is a more highbrow channel with documentaries, films from the continent, and classical music concerts. Quiz show Saber y ganar has also remained a mainstay of the channel since its debut in 1997.
• Teledeporte is a free-to-air sports channel.
• Clan is a children's channel with programmes for younger kids in the morning and a more young adult audience in the evening.

Atresmedia

• Atresmedia was the first commercial network. It currently groups five channels.
  • Antena 3 is the most mainstream channel in the country, with dramas and light entertainment game shows. Currently the highest-rated channel, partly because of Telecinco's waning popularity, partly because of its pretty much unbeatable primetime schedule, consisting of Pasapalabra, the news, ^note the highest-rated news in Spain, and they won't let you forget it and El Hormiguero. Despite its name, it's not always on channel 3, either.^note Sometimes the regional channel occupies Channel 3, as it was set up as Spain's third channel. Largely considered the channel of the moderate right.
  • LaSexta is the more left-wing channel, with more of an emphasis on humour and current affairs, featuring shows like El Intermedio or Al rojo vivo. The latter's election night specials have been rating hits in recent years.
  • Neox is a teen-oriented channel airing primarily American series, and the home of The Simpsons in Spain since Atresmedia controversially demoted them from Antena 3 in 2018.
  • Nova is Atresmedia's female-oriented channel, with a lineup primarily consisting of telenovelas.
  • Mega is a male-oriented channel, best known for airing late-night sports talk show El Chiringuito de Jugones, but it is also home to the likes of Forged in Fire.

Mediaset Espa?a

• Mediaset Espa?a is the Spanish version of Mediaset in Italy.
  • Cuatro was originally established as a standalone channel with more of an anti-establishment and tongue-in-cheek approach to TV. It eventually signed a very one-sided deal to merge with Telecinco in 2011, and since then has largely become Telecinco's little brother, to the detriment of its viewership.
  • Telecinco is the more gossip-friendly network in Spain. Originally it had a focus on mundane game show formats complimented by Fanservice but since the success of Gran Hermano in 2000 it's become known as the reality show and celebrity gossip/tabloid channel. Since 2023 it's been trying to clean up its image and renovate itself as a family-friendly channel, trying to bring back the magic it had in the late '90s, but audiences are not responding, and Telecinco only manages a ratings spike when it goes back to the reality/gossip well.
  • Factoría de Ficción is a dedicated channel for movies and reruns of Telecinco's original series.
  • Divinity is a female-oriented channel, being home to American series and some Turkish soap operas.
  • Energy is Divinity's Spear Counterpart, with a lineup focusing on police procedural series and action movies.
  • Boing is a channel aimed at children, primarily known as the Spanish home of a number of Cartoon Network originals, including Adventure Time and Regular Show.

Each region also has its own channel, to promote the regional culture, but they don't get a lot of funding and are in quite a lot of debt. Some of the more notable ones:

• 3Cat (formerly TV3) in Catalonia is by far the most popular of the regional channels, often even beating the national networks. Often considered fairly impartial by Catalans but has received criticism for being liable to separatism, to the extent that a PP government in the Valencian Community tried to block TV3 from broadcasting in the region in the early 2010s.
• Telemadrid is also a fairly popular network yet was considered to be considerably more political and friendly to the right in the 2000s, during which time its audience share plummeted and hasn't recovered too well either.

Pay TV and streaming

Cable and satellite TV has mostly struggled to gain traction in Spain over the years, with only Canal+ and its successor Movistar+ finding any kind of success with original programming. This didn't deter the streaming giants, however, and as of 2024, Netflix, Max, Prime Video and Disney+ (also carrying Hulu content through its Star imprint) all operate and produce original programming in the country alongside a few local platforms like Filmin and FlixOlé. Plus, all the aforementioned networks have their own on-demand services, with Atresmedia also producing originals exclusive to its streaming service Atresplayer, including the likes of Veneno and the Spanish version of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Right... ?where do we start?

Real Madrid

Founded: 1902

Home ground: Bernabéu

Nickname: Los merengues, Los blancos

The most popular club in Spain, and is often considered the main football symbol of Spain as a unified nation (ironically, it was founded by Catalans), though this is largely a legacy of Franco using the club as a symbol of the power of Spain as Toros y Flamenco land - a Madrid victory was his personal fascist victory during much of the 20th century, and it was often speculated by rival clubs that Franco fixed their matches.^note Most historians suggest Franco didn't actually support a team, and just associated himself with Madrid as a political move.

Often seen as the club of the rich, compared especially with Atlético, who were the working classes' assembly: it used to be common to see high-ranking politicians in the boxes at the Bernabéu, especially if Franco liked them. Nowadays, they're the most successful club in the Champions League and Club World Cup.

Also, helpful note for foreign soccer fans: usually Real Madrid is referred to as 'el Madrid' for short. If you talk about the club saying 'Real' or 'el Real', most might assume you mean 'la Real', as in 'la Real Sociedad', which is an entirely different club based up north in San Sebastián.

FC Barcelona

Founded: 1899

Home ground: Estadi Olimpic Lluís Companys^note Usually the Camp Nou, but they've moved out while it's renovated

Nickname: Bar?a, Blaugranes

The team of Barcelona, known for its derby with Real and for being the main team of Catalan nationalism. When Franco tried to repress all regional identities, many Catalans in opposition to Franco saw Barcelona as a community of like-minded people, pretty much safety in numbers. Their local rivals are RCD Espanyol - in the early 20th century they were the club of anti-regionalism. Won fourteen trophies in just four years under Pep Guardiola in the early 2010s, but have been in footballing and financial difficulties since.

Their fans are called culés (culer for the singular). This rather unflattering nickname comes from when they used to use the old ground at Les Corts; as it was a small stadium fans had to sit on fences and railings showing the rest of the fans their behinds.^note cul is Catalan for the posterior.

Atlético Madrid

Founded: 1903

Home ground: Estadio Metropolitano

Nickname: Colchoneros,^note the mattress-makers Atleti

The team of the working classes in Madrid, versus Real who were seen as the club of the super-rich Franco supporters. Originally an offshoot of Athletic Bilbao (more on them in a minute), they went their separate ways at the end of the 1900s.

Often linked to the political left, they're often thought of as the unsuccessful team of Spanish football, behind Real and Barcelona. It's often said that being a Real fan is easy, but being an Atlético supporter takes guts (and a lot of schtick from Real hinchas).

Athletic Bilbao

Founded: 1898

Home ground: Katedrala/San Mamés

Nickname: Lehoiak, Zuri-gorriak

Kaixo! This is the team of the askatasuna-friendly Basque community. The fourth most-successful club in the league, this is the most successful Spanish^note ahem club which isn't owned by a corporation: it's owned by supporters. Its main rivals are Real Sociedad, due to a local derby between the cities of Bilbao and Donostia^note respectively Bilbo in Basque and San Sebastián in Spanish; and Real Madrid, for obvious reasons.

Notable for its unwritten rule of only signing Basque players — and by extension their brilliant youth academy. Regional rivals Real Sociedad had the same rule but abandoned it in the late 1980s. They also held out for a long time in not having sponsors on their shirts, whereas other clubs will have about as many as an F1 driver. Even now, the club has only ever had Basque sponsors. It gains them both admirers and critics, but you've got to hand it to Athletic^note The name is in English as the growth of football in the Basque Country had a lot to do with English trade. The formal name, whether in Basque, Spanish, or English, is "Athletic Club". The club's page on the Basque Wikipedia is at Athletic. Seriously. for sticking to their principles.

Sevilla

Founded: 1890

Home ground: Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán

Nickname: Palanganas

The most successful team in the south of Spain, with the highest Europa League/UEFA Cup wins of any team in Europe. Formed by a Scotsman in 1890, they were seen as the club of the elite for years until a financial crisis in the 1970s. Notable for bringing Unai Emery up, and their player Biri Biri, who was a hit with fans and gave his name to the club's hooligan group.

Real Betis

Founded: 1907

Home ground: Estadio Benito Villamarín

Nickname: Los verdiblancos

The other team of the lower classes in Seville. They're much less successful than Sevilla, winning the Copa del Rey only three times, but being the perennial Butt-Monkey of the Spanish league has made their fans known for Self-Deprecation and a general quick wit, with the slogan "?Viva el Betis manque pierda!"^note Long live Betis even though they lose!

Also notable for using the word balompié, a more literal translation for "football", for the first few decades.

RCD Espanyol

Founded: 1900

Home ground: Estadio RCDE

Nickname: Los periquitos

The antithesis of Real Madrid for years, and their local rival. In its early years the club refused to train non-Spanish players, and was set up as a response to the number of foreign-owned clubs in the country. In doing so, they never really kept in tune with Catalan regionalism, and so were seen as the club of Madrid rule during the Franco era. Due to this, it attracted fans from those who arrived in Catalonia from other regions such as Andalusia or Castilla-La Mancha, looking for better-paid work, and who didn't feel particularly Catalan.

Since the return of democracy they've successfully reinvented their image as a regionalism-friendly team, changing their name from Espa?ol to Espanyol.