History
Spanish Traditionalism is one of the oldest continuously proclaimed political doctrines in the world, its origins traced back to the late 18th century. In terms of intellectual grandeur the theory enjoyed its climax three times: in the 1840–1850s thanks to works of Jaime Balmes andAntecedents
Isabelline era
The 1833 death of Fernando VII triggered dynastical crisis and a civil war, to become known as theWar and Restoration
Dictatorship era
Present days
Doctrine
Longevity of Traditionalism poses two major problems for those willing to discuss its theoretical contents: how to define the borders and how to capture the unalterable nucleus. In case of outward-leaning scholarly approaches the theory is defined very broadly and the term "Traditionalist" could be applied generously, also to personalities like Fernando VII or Francisco Franco; some historians see Spanish traditionalism very broadly as a general anti-liberal cultural sentiment. In case of inward-leaning approaches the theory is narrowed, generally to Carlism though in some cases even down to its branches. Scaled down to a non-reducible minimum, Traditionalism is politics understood as implementation of social kingship of Jesus Christ; in practical terms it stands for a loosely organized confessional monarchy with strong royal power, with some checks-and-balances provided by organicist representation and with society organized on a corporative basis.Origin of power and monarchy
The Traditionalist doctrine starts with philosophical acknowledgement that God is the beginning of all things, not only as a creator but also a lawmaker.González Cuevas 2016, pp. 137–158 According to the theory, mankind emerged as a result of divine will and developed only when adhering to divine rules, since the truth is accessible to a man only by means ofReligion
The Traditionalist political doctrine is theocentrist; it stems from acknowledgement that the entire human order must be based on God as taught by the Roman Catholic Church. God – with particular emphasis on Jesus Christ – is considered the beginning, the means and the objective of politics.Bartyzel 2015, p. 14 This general concept was neared with various detail, though a widely adopted claim is that the purpose of politics is to establish a social kingship of Jesus Christ, a community strictly adhering to Christian principles. An ideal political regime is supposed to be means of achieving this objective; a Traditionalist monarchy is hence referred to as aState
Unlike the questions of monarchy or society, this of a state has usually been played down by Traditionalist writers; the phenomenon has even prompted one of their present-day theorists to make a reservation that Traditionalists are not enemies of the state.Ayuso Torres 1999, p. 82 In fact, they saw state as a structure secondary and subordinate to a society and were careful to lambast all cases of reverting the order, be it "estadolatría moderna" ofSociety
Representation
Fueros
Technically speaking territorial entities were just one out of many types of intermediary bodies making up a society; indeed in early Traditionalist writings they did not enjoy particular prominence and according to some scholars they were rather ignored. Traditionalist embracement of separate local legal identities was proportional to modernizing efforts of Liberal governments, which in course of the 19th century systematically did away with feudalism-rooted territory-specific establishments which prevented homogeneity of a modern state. The subject of fueros, traditional regulations specific to some if not most areas, started to feature in the 1840s in the Carlist rather than non-Carlist breed of Traditionalism; by the 1870s it grew to a prominent issue; by the late 19th century re-establishment of the fueros became one of the cornerstones of the entire theory and it remains so until today. The review of Carlist position versus fueros was laid out by Eustaqio Echave-Sustaeta (1912), Teodoro de Arana y Beláustegui (1921), and Justo Garrán Moso (1935). In the full-blown doctrine fueros are considered primary rules constituting the state and by no means sort of a privilege, granted by central authority to specific territorial entities. Fueros might be applicable to any sort of entity from a municipio to aEconomy
Foreign relations
Traditionalism and other concepts
Spanish Traditionalism is a political theory with over 200 years of history; Traditionalists had to formulate their response to novelties likeAbsolutism
There are not infrequent scholarly references to "Carlist absolutism" or "absolutist Traditionalism", usually applied to the early 19th century but at times even to the 1880; in case closer references are provided, they usually point to ''Manifiesto de los Persas'', dubbed "un verdadero alegato absolutista". Indeed, its Article 134 contained a lengthy praise of "monarquía absoluta" and "soberano absoluto"; moreover, in the late 1820s Don Carlos by all means seemed far more vehement defender of ''antiguo régimen'' than his brother Fernando VII. However, most scholars dwelling on Traditionalism remain at least cautious when discussing its proximity to Absolutism; the prevailing opinion is that the two offered highly competitive visions. Some relate birth of Traditionalism to mounting dissatisfaction with increasingly absolutist reforms of the 18th century. Some see absolutist references in the ''Persian Manifesto'' as linguistic misunderstanding, since the paragraph in question is reportedly clearly aimed against absolute, unlimited monarchical power, standing rather for sovereign execution of undivided powers limited by divine law, justice and fundamental rules of the state. Some note that Absolutism might have served as sort of incubus for Traditionalism, as pre-Traditionalists firmly stood by Fernando VII during his Absolutist-driven purge ofCarlism
There is general and rather unanimous understanding both in historiography and in political sciences that Traditionalism is heavily related to Carlism, though exact relationship between the two might be understood in widely different terms. The prevailing theory holds that Traditionalism is a theoretical political doctrine, which has been adopted by social and political movement named Carlism. The version of this theory currently accepted by the Carlists themselves is that though not exclusively forming their outlook, Traditionalism combined with a theory of dynastic legitimacy and a theory of Spanish historical continuity is one of 3 theoretical pillars of Carlism. In some concise definitions Traditionalism is simply presented as a doctrine of the Carlists. However, in detailed scholarly discourse most students are cautious to underline that Traditionalism appears in Carlist and non-Carlist incarnations. Some of them maintain that Carlism is the essence of Traditionalism, its proper case, in Aristotelian terms πρός έν or rather έφ ένός of Traditionalism. Others present the opposite opinion, leaving no stone unturned in search for arguments that mainstream Traditionalism was not Carlist; finally, there are many authors in-between both positions. Most students – especially historians – do not go into such detail; they note that Carlists nurtured "their brand of Traditionalism" and either mention "Carlist Traditionalism" or use both terms almost interchangeably. Finally, there are scholars who claim that in principle Carlism and Traditionalism had little in common and one can either be a genuine Carlist or a Traditionalist; this is a theory pursued mostly by students related to Partido Carlista, who present Carlism as a movement of social protest at times infiltrated by Traditionalists. Apart from differing scholarly opinions on Traditionalism v. Carlism there is also confusion related to terminology and historical usage in popular discourse. It stems mostly from secessions which occurred within political movement and exclusive claims which various factions laid to Traditionalist credentials, though also from conscious attempts to manipulate public opinion. The former is related to 1888 and 1919 secessions from mainstream Carlism; both Nocedalista and Mellista breakaways were and are at times dubbed Traditionalists and pitted against Carlists, especially that the party of de Mella assumed the name of Partido Católico Tradicionalista and both Nocedalistas and Mellistas claimed exclusive license for usage of the term. Manipulation is the case of Primo de Rivera and Franco dictatorships; with intention to deny existence of political groupings other than the official party, both regimes downplayed the term "Carlism" and used to replace it with "Traditionalism"; the latter was deemed more ample, capable of covering also principles of the respective regimes, and in particular deprived of the potentially harmful dynastic ingredient.Conservatism
In terms of real-life politics the Spanish Conservatives from the onset remained largely at odds with the Traditionalists. Doceañistas of the Fernandine period, Partido Moderado of the Isabelline era and Partido Conservador of the Restoration stayed fiercely hostile to Carlist Traditionalism, though there were periods of rapprochement with non-legitimist branches of the movement; some representatives of the two neared each other in times of Donoso Cortés, neocatólicos, Alejandro Pidal and Menéndez Pelayo, with offshoot Conservative branches like Mauristas considering even a fusion with Traditionalists. In terms of doctrinal affinity mutual relationship of the two is more ambiguous and difficult to capture. Traditionalism is not infrequently referred to as Conservative or even Ultra-conservative theory. Recent multi-dimensional typological attempt presents an ambiguous picture. Some detailed scholarly studies claim that Traditionalism andFascism
In anonymous cyberspace Traditionalism as component of theFrancoism
Nationalism
Other
List of selected traditionalist texts
See also
* Carlism * Traditionalism (Catholicism) * Integrism (Spain) * Carlism in literatureFootnotes
Further reading
* Miguel Ayuso, ''Historia del tradicionalismo reciente'', [in:] ''Razón española: Revista bimestral de pensamiento'' 32 (1988), pp. 347–351 * Miguel Ayuso, ''Qué es el Carlismo. Una introducción al tradicionalismo hispánico'', Buenos Aires 2005 * Jacek Bartyzel, ''Nic bez Boga, nic wbrew tradycji'', Radzymin 2015, * Jacek Bartyzel, ''Tradycjonalizm, sensy terminu i kręgi odniesienia'', [in:] ''Sensus historiae'' XXXIII (2018), pp. 17–31 * Jacek Bartyzel, ''Umierać ale powoli'', Kraków 2002, * José María Beneyto Pérez, ''La época de las revoluciones y la gnosis política del tradicionalismo'', [in:] José Luis Villacañas Berlanga (ed.), ''La filosofía del siglo XIX'', Madrid 2001, , pp. 201–236 * Javier Barraycoa, ''Catolicismo político tradicional, liberalismo, socialismo y radicalismo en la España contemporánea'', [in:] Miguel Ayuso (ed.), ''La res publica christiana como problema político'', pp. 93–133, Madrid 2014, * Jiří Chalupa, ''Don Carlos a ti druzí'', Praha 2008, * Francisco Colom González, ''La imaginación política del tradicionalismo español'', [in:] ''"Por Dios, por la Patria y el Rey": las ideas del carlismo'', Madrid 2011, , pp. 179–198 * Melchor Ferrer, ''Historia del tradicionalismo español'', vols. 1-30, Sevilla-Madrid 1941–1979 * Pedro Carlos González Cuevas (ed.), ''Historia del pensamiento político español del Renacimiento a nuestros días'', Madrid 2016, * Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, ''Tradicionalismo'', [in:] Javier Fernández Sebastián (ed.), ''Diccionario político y social del siglo XX español'', Madrid 2008, , p. 1163-1173 * Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, ''El pensamiento político de la derecha española en el siglo XX'', Madrid 2005, * Андрей Андреевич Терещук, ''За Бога, Родину и Короля: военно-политическая история раннего карлизма'', Москва 2023, * Jorge Novella Suárez, ''El pensamiento reaccionario español, 1812–1975: tradición y contrarrevolución en España'', Madrid 2007, * Alvaro Rodríguez Núñez, ''Tradicionalismo, Carlismo y Catolicismo'', [in:] ''Razón española: Revista bimestral de pensamiento'' 170 (2011), pp. 311–332 * Юрий Владимирович Василенко, ''Генезис карлизма и проблемы типологии испанского консерватизма'', [in:] ''Научный ежегодник Института философии и права Уральского отделения Российской академии наук'' 1/16 (2016), pp. 92–111 * Alexandra Wilhelmsen, ''La formación del pensamiento político del carlismo (1810–1875)'', Madrid 1998, * Alexandra Wilhelmsen, ''La teoría del Tradicionalismo político español (1810–1875): Realismo y Carlismo'', [in:] Stanley G. Payne (ed.), ''Identidad y nacionalismo en la España contemporánea: el Carlismo, 1833–1975'', Madrid 2001, {{ISBN, 8487863469, pp. 33–54External links