By: Ankit Raj, Research Analyst, GSDN
The geopolitical history of Spain has had a progression of selective steps, beginning with the central place in the first world empire, to its long-term isolation, and finally to the modern-day renaissance that has placed the country in an influential role in the European arena. The 1492 expedition of Christopher Columbus in effect gave Spain a monopoly to the new lands discovered in the Americas. The scale of the modern Spain relevance is established on the basis of the Treaty of Tordesillas signed on 7 June 1494, dividing the non-European territories between Spain and Portugal. This way, Spain was able to gain control of most part of the American continent, thus creating the foundation of a large transcontinental empire. The Spanish Empire later became the first real global polity enforcing its control over lands in North and South America, the archipelago of the Philippines, parts of Africa and Europe, such as the Dutch Republic and a number of Italian states. The Spanish military conquests in Europe as well as its economy and the Real de a Ocho, the first currency to circulate in the world were all funded and fueled by the presence of silver and gold deposits in Bolivian Potosí and Mexican mines.
But the heights of the Spanish hegemony faded away with the emergence of the rule of competing forces taking the form of the gradual decline of its territorial possessions, power as well as the hegemony. This phenomenon is captured in an African maxim, El que mucho abarca, poco aprieta, which means ‘’Has so much to hold, but little to squeeze’’ and is a useful summary of the overstretched imperialism of Spain. During the centuries, the Spanish Crown ruled a vast American empire concurrently, fought continental wars against France, Protestant Dutch and England as well as against the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean. This dispersion of resources, ambition and attention eventually led to its downfall as it exemplifies the real world example of geopolitical power when diluted to an undesirable extent loses its effectiveness.
The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) that ended the war of the Spanish Succession was a turning point in geopolitics of Europe. Spain in its turn had to hand over territorial property to Italy and the Netherlands, even more important to deliver the bases of naval strategic location Gibraltar and Menorca to the United Kingdom. This moved the balance of power in the Mediterranean theatre permanently. Another pivotal that can be considered the watershed moment in history is the attack of Spain by Napoleon, which caused a significant economic and social disaster on the territory of the country. Internal political instability that was rooted in the nineteenth century included civil wars, a stagnant economy and constant economic decline.
Spain did not industrialise in a similar way to Britain, France, and Germany hence hindering its status as a supplier of power in European matters. Spain adopted a policy of neutrality in the World War I, which can be explained by relatively weak military position of the country, antagonized by the constant struggles in Morocco, as well as its domestic political unsteadiness which did not allow active involvement in the war. The civil war in Spain (1936–1939) turned to be a proxy war as a foreshadowing of the beginning of the Second World War. Although Spain proclaimed its neutrality in World War 2, it changed sides and openly supported the Axis powers adopting a non-belligerent stance.
The cold war period also made Spain very diplomatically isolated; the state was not a participant in the United Nations, the Marshall plan, and the establishment of NATO and thus lost the perceived importance in international scene The Pact of Madrid (1953) institutionalised the sale of the land by Spain to establish the U.S. military bases in return on key economic and military aid, and the isolation of Spain came to an end, and the Franco rule was cemented. The peaceful shift to democracy in Spain after the death of Franco in 1975 tied the concept of geopolitical relevance in Spain fundamentally.
The Indispensable Pivot: Spain and the World Geopolitics.
Spain rarely appears in the vast list of world geopolitics as much as the United States, China, and Russia do. The most common argument presented by geopolitical experts explains the relative marginalisation by the absence of nuclear armaments and permanent veto on the United Nations Security Council.
However, Spain is a geopolitical key actor not because of its raw, military or economic power, but its strategic location, which can never be replicated, its critical connections with various continents and peoples, and the bargaining power it can exercise in the major institutions which create the twenty-first century brought its importance. Spain is on the crossroad of the most crucial geopolitical routes of the world since it is the gateway linking Europe and Africa to facing the core of the European Union and NATO. As a result, Spain has become an essential partner, a key node, and a frontline state that is facing numerous international issues, including security and defense, migration and energy.
The Geographic Pivot: Continents and Oceans Intersection
The most basic asset of Spain is the geography; it is not a geographical position but an intersection of sea and land networks. Alongside its enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, located on the North African coast, Spain shares control of the Strait of Gibraltar a key marine chokepoint in the world. In excess of over 100, 000 ships per annum pass through this narrow route, handling around 25 per cent of the world shipping. The security and control in this strait are one of the most vital issues in the whole international economy since the instability of this Gulf would have a cascading effect which would far outshine the effects seen in Suez Canal or the Red Sea. Spain is also a country with a major Atlantic and Mediterranean coast, the second one in the entirety, the other country is France. This two-sided positioning offers Spain as an excellent hub in maritime security in Europe. The geographical importance of this area is strategic because it is a military and geopolitical factor. The Navigable docking station Rota, is a Spanish-American station; one of the most vital naval bases in Europe. It is the hub of the U.S Navy 6th fleet and houses four of the Aegis armed destroyers that comprise the backbone of the NATO ballistic missile defense network over the European continent. With the assistance of Moron Air Base, the base gives Spain a strong structural power within the NATO alliance.
The European Leader: A Big Four Leader in Brussels. Spain has been transformed into a core participant of the European project since it joined the then European Economic Community in 1986 as a peripheral state. Since the exit of the United Kingdom, Spain is now considered one of the so-called Big Four in the European Union, along with Germany, France, and Italy. Being the fourth-largest economy in the Euro zone, the economic health and the decisions of the policies made by Spain, have a direct effect on the stability of the common currency.
Spain has a very delicate external border of the EU as the country has to cope with one of the most fluid migration paths; the western African, through the Canary Islands, and the western Mediterranean routes. This gives Spain a huge bargaining power in Brussels. The EU cannot do without cooperation with Spain that handles the whole migration policy with asylum issues and that has often used the position to the country’s advantage to obtain funding and political goodwill.
Spain is also turning out to be an important gas energy hub in Europe with the largest regasification capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) which has a value of about one-third of the total liquid natural gas capacity in the EU countries.
The Atlantic Bridge: The Hispanidad Vector of Latin America
The deep, unmatched and multidimensional relation with Latin America is the geopolitical resource peculiar to Spain. Spain occupies the key location of the Hispanosphere, a linguistic bloc with more than 580 million speakers of Spanish language and, thus, it is ranked as the second-most spoken native language in the world. The common language, combined with a deep culture and historical relationship, provides Spain with a rich amount of soft power and intrinsic sympathy, which facilitate a diplomatic and business interaction in the world arena.
In case of the European Union, Spain is the representative which interacts with Latin America on default terms. It is the leading advocate of strengthening the EU-Latin American relations, facilitates the trade agreements like the EU Mercosur one and directs the development help. In the process of dealing with the region, Madrid has often been consulted first when Brussels tries to do so. The Spanish corporations have powerful influence on the Latin American continent. Large companies like banking, Telefonos and energy workforce (Santander, Telefonos, and Repsol) have made the region a base of their international business. This enhanced integration economically ensures Spain an investment interest and a strong economic bargaining in not only the stability of the region but also, which also forms a significant political influence in the region.
The North African Frontier: A Complex and Critical Relationship
The relationships of Spain with its southern neighbors, in the Maghreb, most especially between Spain and Morocco, Spain and Algeria are probably the most complex, unstable and sensitive in terms of geopolitics. The relations with Morocco contain the main issues of migration and the territorial conflicts. The fact that Spain has been relying on Morocco to control the migration flows gives it substantial bargaining power which has been used to achieve political compromises through what has come to be known as the opening taps.
The Spanish strategic shift of recent days in support of the scenario of Moroccan autonomy, shifting its traditional stance of neutrality is seen as a geopolitical gangland act that may intervene the Spanish in convincing Morocco to join it in managing migration and permit them to resolve a diplomatic crisis. Along with mending relations with Morocco, Spain also broke the ties with Algeria, the other power of the region and the main rival of Morocco. Another example of what a high-risk balancing act would require Spain to carry out is the Algeria that is the source of much of its natural gas needs, balancing between its interests in energy security and the inter-regional competition of the two most significant southern neighbors. This Spanish policy is a southern one that makes Spain indispensable. This is referred as soft power and economic specialization.
The Spanish position in the world arena is characterized not only by the high level of soft power, but also by the high level of professional economy in the world. The nation is always in the list of top ten contributors of world soft power. This popularity can be minded by global popularity of its language, its globally renowned tourism sector, one of the most frequented destinations on planet Earth, its distinguished football clubs (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona) and its cultural exports in the form of film, cuisine and even arts. In addition to the tourist industry, Spain leads the quiet world on a number of major sectors with the renewable energy sector being one of them, giving particular focus to wind and solar energy.
Conclusion: The Indispensable ‘Pivotal Power’
The significance of Spain does not involve the urge to control but rather centrality. It happens to be the geographical hinge and as the institutional screw serving as part of the EU the consistent and consistent policy of the south, the cultural and economic pivot between Europe and Latin America, what cronies the military pivot of the whole NATO coalition. It is true that other power may be greater, but Spain roots and its tactics are more deeply implanted in the very problems and possibilities of our era. Disregarding Spain is tantamount to disregarding one of the geopolitical pinpoints of the world.
