A Collective Biography of Southern European Democratization

How do different generations remember the democratic transitions in the post-authoritarian European South fifty years later, and why does that matter? A Collective Biography of Southern European Democratization shows how individual stories, family stories, and the histories of the three countries intersect in the light of the transitions to democracy in Portugal, Greece, and Spain. Memories of three distinct generations shed new light on the connection between past and present, illuminating how each wrestles to come to terms with the transitional legacy. Drawing on extensive empirical work to explore individual and collective biographies, this book introduces the crucial role of generational memory in shaping the political, social, and cultural developments not just of the transitions themselves but of the entire post-authoritarian period to date. The book dissects the 'memory wars' triggered by the Great Recession, as the political narratives and cultural politics of the transition years were deployed anew to address contemporary political challenges.