To forgive or forget?: A Qualitative Comparative Case Study on the Political Memories of Authoritarianism in Portugal and Spain

Several countries in the European context have followed the same type of political trajectory of gaining an electoral breakthrough for far-right parties. The circumstances in which the trend has occurred includes countries with histories of authoritarian governments. Two cases of this phenomenon are Portugal and Spain, where the far-right has increased in electoral popularity while still dealing with an authoritarian past. Therefore, this study investigates how the memory of authoritarianism is managed in party politics in the wake of a new political era in the two countries in order to understand how memories of the past are utilized in current day politics. A descriptive, qualitative case study is conducted through investigating three of the largest parties in Portugal and Spain, facilitated by a theoretical framework on the politics of memory. The results show that the two countries have different approaches to their past: Portugal has a more unified front in how the memory is handled and the past is viewed as settled. Spain on the other hand is politically polarized when it comes to the management of the past and it is therefore not resolved. Furthermore, the far-right parties in both cases showcase a more disregarding attitude towards the issue. The findings can contribute to gaining a deeper understanding of how negotiations regarding the politics of memory are used in post authoritarian contexts.