Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Photograph, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · CC0
Francisco Franco
- Country
- Spain
- Era
- 1892–1975
- Tradition
- National Catholicism, authoritarian conservatism
General who overthrew the Spanish Republic with Axis support and ruled for thirty-six years, imposing a Catholic authoritarian order before opening the economy in the 1950s and restoring the monarchy at his death.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Led the military rising against the elected Republic in 1936 and governed by decree thereafter
- Banned political parties and independent trade unions, and imposed a state-run vertical syndicate system
- Made Catholicism the state religion and gave the Church control over education, marriage and censorship
- Suppressed the Catalan and Basque languages in public life
- Pursued economic autarky until 1959, then adopted a technocratic stabilisation plan that opened Spain to trade and investment
- Kept Spain formally neutral in the Second World War while sending the Blue Division to fight alongside Germany
- Designated Juan Carlos as his successor, restoring the monarchy after his death
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
60
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Documented
The state in the economy
42
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Documented
Personal liberty
3
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Well documented
Tradition and change
4
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Well documented
Nation and the world
94
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Religion and the state
92
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Well documented
Power and its limits
2
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Well documented
Crime and punishment
6
PunishmentRehabilitation
Evidence: Well documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Environment and growth
Sources
- Paul Preston, Franco: A Biography · HarperCollins · 1993
- Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust · HarperPress · 2012
Last verified: