Spain’s restored Bourbon monarchy provides the most…

Spain’s restored Bourbon monarchy provides the most stable government the country has known since 1833.

This stability is sustained by an uneven but respectable economic growth.

The architect of the restoration itself and of the Constitution of 1876 is Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, prime minister from 1875 to 1881 and again from January 1884.

A superb politician, Cánovas had hoped for a civilian restoration; he had accepted Martínez Campos' coup but used the young Alfonso XII to keep the military out of politics.

The Canovite system is artificial in that it requires the contrived rotation in office (turno pacífico) of a Liberal, led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, and a Conservative party, led by Canovas; this in turn demands governmental control of elections, which are run by caciques, or local political bosses, who control votes in their districts.

Only in this way can the government selected by the king and the politicians in Madrid obtain a parliamentary majority; extensive corruption and the use of administrative pressures on electors are considered the only ways to make the parliamentary system work in an underdeveloped society.

Alfonso XII, although politically inexperienced, demonstrates great natural tact and sound judgment, qualities that give rise to hope that the monarchy will not suffer if the democratic constitution enacted in 1876 is fully implemented.

Attempts on the King's life (October 1878 and December 1879) and a military pronunciamento against the regime (1883) are not indicative of any general discontent with the restored monarchy; on the contrary, Alfonso enjoys considerable popularity, and his early death from tuberculosis on November 25, 1885, is a great disappointment to those who looked forward to a constitutional monarchy in Spain.

Alfonso's pregnant widow, Maria Christina of Austria, by whom he had had two daughters, serves as regent.

Spain's economy is quite behind those of the other European countries, and during these years, the modernization of the country has taken place on a large scale.

On most fronts, production has been increased due to extreme protectionist measures.