Repressive legacies and the democratisation of Iberian police systems

Abstract

Literature on democratisation claims that the dictatorship's police forces are difficult to reform and that modes of transition and authoritarian legacies are linked. It predicts that a continuous transition will leave greater legacies than a discontinuous one. This paper analyses the police reforms during democratisation in Spain and Portugal, comparing them in several dimensions: symbolic changes, demilitarisation, decentralisation, accountability, professionalisation and new service role. In both countries a democratic police was built; yet, contrary to predictions, the Spanish police underwent a faster and deeper reform than the Portuguese, a result explained by the double legacy of dictatorship and revolution in the Portuguese transition, the credibility dilemmas of the Spanish reformers and the impact of regional devolution.