How Spain’s politics succumbed to radicalism

If Spain’s left-wing government loses tomorrow’s general election, thousands of people including many senior civil servants stand to lose their jobs. Their positions are discretionary; if the political masters change, so do the personnel.

When the left took office in 2018, for example, an estimated 6,000 public servants were fired, including several hundred advisers. The incoming Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also put trusted supporters in charge of the state-run broadcasting company, the Paradors (a chain of state-owned hotels) and the social research organisation that organises opinion polls. Not surprisingly, its polls have been biased to the left ever since.

This ‘jobs for the boys’ approach is even worse inside the political parties. Across the spectrum, Spanish parties are highly disciplined, top-down organisations; intolerant of dissent, the party leaders fill posts with ‘yes men’. It’s a system that fosters unquestioning obedience, groupthink and dogmatism.