The Institute of Development Studies and Partner Organisations
Browse

The Double Logic of Internal Purges: New Evidence from Francoist Spain

journal contribution
posted on 2024-10-04, 13:47 authored by Laia Balcells, Francisco Villamil
States often engage in internal purges to eliminate political dissidents within their own ranks. However, partly because of the absence of reliable data, we know little about the logic and dynamics of these purges, particularly of lower-rank members of the state. Why do state authorities persecute these individuals when they do not entail a clear threat to the regime? We focus on the purges of public-school teachers during the early years of Francisco Franco’s regime in Spain. Using detailed historical sources, we explore whether teachers were more likely to be purged following the two main cleavages in 1930s Spain: the left-right divide and the center-periphery (i.e., nationalist) cleavage. Our results suggest that while the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) was still unfolding Francoist authorities targeted mainly teachers from leftist localities, thus focusing on potential security threats behind the frontlines. After winning the war, Francoists started to target more intensively teachers from national minority groups in order to promote nation-building policies leading to their assimilation. Our findings highlight the double logic of purging as both a preemptive measure against internal threats and as a nation-building tool.

Funding

Default funder

History

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Citation

Balcells, L. and Villamil, F. (2020) 'The Double Logic of Internal Purges: New Evidence from Francoist Spain', Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 26.3, doi:10.1080/13537113.2020.1795451

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

IDS Item Types

Article

Copyright holder

© 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Country

Spain

Language

en

Project identifier

Default project::9ce4e4dc-26e9-4d78-96e9-15e4dcac0642::600

Usage metrics

    Journal Articles - External

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC