Spain has emerged from relative political isolation with the transition from authoritarian to democratic government. Its membership of both NATO and the EU have been crucial vehicles for Spain's reappearance on the world stage, though the traditional 'special relationships' with Latin America and the Arab world have also been of great importance.

By focusing on the relationship between external relations and domestic policy, Democratic Spain makes an important contribution to the literature on democratization, as well as showing how Spanish foreign policy evolved between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s. While the book is focused on Spain, its revisionist view of democratic transitions is of more general relevance. Democratization is seen as an integral process involving related though not simultaneous changes in domestic policy and external relations.

Only with the transformation of its external relations did Spain's new democracy finally become consolidated. This book will be required reading for students of Spanish politics and will also be useful to those interested in the process of democratization.