A Tale of Two Crises: Contentious Responses to Austerity Policy in Spain

Anti-austerity protest in Spain can be understood in a broad context where the economic crisis evolved in parallel to a political crisis. The study of the political consequences of the economic crisis is currently a relevant topic in Spain concerning the mobilization potential of grievances (Muñoz et al. 2014, Perez-Nievas et al. 2013) and partisan effects on how individuals understand the crisis (Fernández-Albertos, Kuo and Balcells 2013). Attitudes and beliefs on government responsibility provide a comprehensive picture of responses to the crisis, which may be conditioned by the role of parties and unions in the formation of grievances. Multiple studies in electoral politics have signaled to the importance of partisanship and party cues in explaining attitudes towards politics and issue positions (Bartels 2002). Parties have also been studied as central agents in developing the understanding of contested issues such as environmental beliefs (Buttel and Flinn 1976) attitudes towards war (Luther and Miller2005) and racial attitudes (Abramowitz 1994). This phenomenon has not received the attention it deserves in studying responses to the economic crisis, and partisan identity has been of no great concern when studying mobilization to anti-austerity protest. The central argument in this chapter is that partisan identity is relevant in explaining perceptions of the crisis, especially considering the context of union mobilization against austerity in the Spanish context