This is the fifth Report on Democracy in Spain (IDE – Informe sobre la Democracia en España) published by the Laboratory of the Fundación Alternativas. As in previous years, the main aim of this collection of texts has been to offer a rigorous and multifaceted analysis of the state of our democracy.In this report attention is focused on Government activity: on its initiatives and their results; on the strategy of the opposition; on the changes in public opinion regarding the problems that arise in connection with internal party democracy; on political corruption and the formulas that the institutions have adopted to combat it; on the role the media plays in controlling Government and the configuration of the public sphere; on the conflicts that are raging around the intervention of the Constitutional Court with respect to the thorny issue of the Statute of Catalonia, as well as the internal problems of the institution relating to manipulation and bias in the appointment of judges; on the State’s relationship with such iconic social institutions as the religious denominations; on the democratic system’s ability to address the economic crisis, social inequality and poverty, and on our nation’s past.

Table of contents

Ch. 1. Editorial

Ch. 2. Annus horribilis (Spanish politics)

Ch. 3. Falling behind and vulnerable (Economy)

Ch. 4. Inequality and poverty in times of crisis (Inequality)

Ch. 5. The internal democracy of political parties (Parties)

Ch. 6. Public policy on historical memory (Historical Memory)

Ch. 7. The media: present and future uncertainties (Spanish Media)

Ch. 8. Lacunae in the vertical and horizontal control of corruption (Corruption)

Ch. 9. Relations between the State and the confessional religions (Religion)

Ch. 10. The Constitutional Court and the Catalan Statute (Justice)

Ch. 11. Fourth annual rating of Spanish democracy (Survey on Democracy)

Report on Democracy in Spain 2011 is also available in Spanish Language