[War_ooc] Spain 2014

[Iain]

====================
Country: Kingdom of Spain
Leader: President of the Government Elena Garcia Rodriguez Ruling Party:
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party


Political Landscape
===================

In 2008, the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party was re-elected to Government
under President Zapatero with slightly less than an overall majority. At
this time the party was unable to secure support of any of the other parties
in the parliament and therefore began to run a minority government. This
government was plagued by problems both in terms of its inability to gain
support for many of its key tabled reforms and in the public opinion of the
party. Following the shooting of one of the party's Basque politicians on
the run up to the 2008 election, which was attributed to ETA, the party and
the government were seen to do little. This ran contrary to Zapatero's
promise of being a hardliner on terrorism and he began to lose popularity
and the faith of his people. When an attempt was made on the President's
life in 2009, leaving him without the function of his left arm, he stepped
down. Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega stepped into the
breach as interim and two days later was elected to the Presidential post on
the second vote with only a plurality of votes having failed to gain a
majority in the first vote. 

It was under Fernandez's leadership that the Spanish Socialist Worker's
Party found a renewed support among the Spaniards. Her increasingly liberal
views on equality and a unified Spain rang resoundingly with the people of
Spain. During the ensuing recession, her firm leadership and increasingly
public figure seized the opportunity to further her policies. In 2010, in
league with the monarch, Juan Carlos I, she called out to Spain to seek a
new era of unity, to use the wealth they had gathered prior to this
financial crisis to spread throughout the country rather than the local
disparities that currently reigned. Nationalist movements for regions
throughout Spain began to lose their popularity and by 2012 a return to
Central Government Administration had been achieved.

Following the 2012 elections, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party found
themselves win a landslide victory with a clear majority in the Senate.
Fernandez congratulated her party and their supporters before announcing her
time had come to retire. It was a third round of voting this time that
eventually elected a President to be confirmed by the King. Elena Garcia
Rodriguez was confirmed as President on November 17th, 2012. Rodriguez was
much younger than her predecessor and a new-hand to politics having only
joined the government of Fernandez 2 years earlier from a career in
diplomacy.

After a shaky start, Fernandez gained increasing popularity with key members
of her party and many public figures spoke out in support of a fresh face
leading the country. Many social reforms remained on the table, and it was
Fernandez that began to bring the Spanish back into the international
political arena in 2013 following a prolonged period of political isolation.


Defence
=======

The Spanish military remains active only in International Peacekeeping
Forces and has down-scaled considerably in recent years. The running joke is
that the coast guard and border patrol will soon be the frontline Spanish
troops. The Spanish government have been reluctant to pledge any troops to
the UN and have only done so when it has been suggested that they're
co-operation is required rather than requested. This reluctance echoes the
lack of participation in diplomacy in recent years. The participation in
peacekeeping operations in Azerbaijan under US direction was seen as
controversial (albeit justified) given the condemnation of violence in
Russian provinces and Korea. 

Foreign Relations
=================

Over the past year, President Fernandez has reshuffled her ambassadorial
staff to better represent Spain abroad. There are rumours of an intended
tour of Europe to discuss common political issues with nearby leaders but
nothing has yet been confirmed. 

In 2013 Fernandez directly criticised the Chinese leader for his
government's involvement in using prisoners to produce goods for export.
This, whilst the opinion of the majority, was seen as a bold move given the
influence of the superpower over the currently political climate. Further
condemnations came from members of her government and diplomatic staff
following evidence of human rights violations by Chinese soldiers.

Relations with the United States have been cordial, with open discussion and
review of the Azerbaijan situation and joint criticism of the Chinese
leading to a defrosting of the usually icy Iberian-US dialogue. There have
been warnings from several sources against Spain becoming a new US 'lapdog'
which the President has not taken seriously. Comparisons of former UK-US
relations have also been made.

Despite widely evading damage in recent international terrorist strikes,
Fernandez has reinforced her position to not negotiate with terrorist
organisations and ensured that the leaders of countries affected all
received personal messages of condolences and support from her government. A
visit to the United States is now thought to be imminent following messages
of support for the Williams administrations handling of almost ever recent
affair.


Economy
=======

The economy is slowly restabilising following the recessions of recent
times. This has been helped with the central regulation of government
spending and taxation taken back from local governments a couple of years
ago. There is hope with a raised international profile both tourism and
sales of Spanish exports will bring the country higher revenues once more.


Social Issues
=============

Unemployment remains an issue in Spain which has had an effect on slightly
higher rates of crime. The government is tackling these problems together
with criminals having compulsory public service and training courses to
increase their skills and 'sense of duty'.

Particularly following World Youth Day in 2011 in Madrid, a return to
Catholicism has led to immense controversies in Spain. Whilst the people are
taking up regular attendance at mass and religious views, this has led to a
decreased interest in social reform. This has been echoed by the slowing of
social reforms passing through legislative paths. Hate crimes have been on
the increase following recent international terrorism and Iranian actions,
particularly against the Muslim communities in Spain. There has been a
no-tolerance approach from the government on these crimes with mandatory
custodial sentences for anyone convicted but this has done little to curb
the trend. Non-Spanish nationals are still finding themselves feeling
bullied as the nation frowns on both legal and illegal immigration. The
tightening of immigration laws does not seem to have helped the matter.

Tolerance for homosexual marriage remains but is continuously being
protested by religious groups and being brought for debate in government.
The appointment of an openly-gay man as Vice President, who is married to
his husband has been viewed as a token gesture to the 'liberal' views that
the President supposedly holds and has led to a decrease in both the
government, and their leader's popularity among the more religious.

The Muslim population of Spain is also gaining increased attendance at
religious gatherings and whilst this initially was accepted and a
live-and-let-live attitude was adopted, increasing suspicion over the war in
Azerbaijan and terrorism has led to the occasional brawl between Muslims and
Christians. Conversely, the Muslims are protesting the Spanish government's
involvement in Azerbaijan as an act against Islamic faithfuls.

Human Rights organisations and Sexual-equality groups remain a powerful
lobbying force but are being increasingly side-lined over the growing power
of the Catholic Church and the government's desperation to quench bad
feeling both from and toward its Muslim citizens.

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