Biography

My interests lie in the crisis in Spanish politics, society and identity that begins after the loss of the last remaining colonies in 1898. They also lie in the ways in which we as Spaniards can form a modern conception of what being Spanish means. This new conception should come from a re-evaluation of the Spanish liberal tradition and of its relationship with those of England and the United States. For all these purposes, Ramiro de Maeztu is ideal: of the generation of intellectuals of 1898, and all the way until the Spanish Civil War, he was the one most interested in the Anglo-Saxon world. He was very concerned with the institutional and cultural problems of Spain, and for a while tried to apply the English model to them. Maeztu can help us understand why Spain devolved towards the gradual breakdown of institutions and the radicalization that led to the civil war, instead of taking the path of progressive and consensual reforms of the Anglo-Saxon model.