Spain In Europe

One of the results of Spain’s location close to Africa and on the sea routes of the Mediterranean has been to confuse the relationship of the nation to the other nations of western Europe. Spain does not fit into the group. It does not communicate with the other nations of Europe. They do not understand Spain and Spain very likely does not understand them. Some of the political movements that sweep Europe periodically have an effect on Spain but seldom seriously alter its life. Spain has been called anti-European, particularly at times of great political change in the rest of Europe. Spain strongly resists change. This resistance may be explained by the austere and conservative nature of the Spaniard. But there are other factors.

It is certain that the Spaniard has not yet become a cosmopolitan like the Londoner, the Parisian and the New Yorker not even the Spaniard in Madrid. Nor has the Spaniard become a “modern man 5 * or a “citizen of the world” in the sense in which most western Euro peans use the words. The fact is that the Spaniard remains distinct from the other Europeans. While his art and intellect may be di rected at universal concepts, his instinctive political and social actions are entirely Spanish.

The non-European character of the Spanish people and nation pose a problem to Spain itself as the requirement for international understanding and cooperation grows. Without concerted economic and technical action, it is virtually impossible to raise living stand ards. Increasingly, this action must be international. Without con certed international political action, it is difficult to maintain the peace, and it is becoming more difficult. In modern times no nation can go it alone.

Spain is very slowly overcoming its political and economic isola tion from the rest of the western European community.

At the same time, the field of international cooperation does not begin and end with Europe, but encompasses other peoples, includ ing the Africans and the Latin Americans. Here Spain faces some difficulties also, although it has certain obvious advantages over the other European countries. Some of the European features of its culture, particularly its religion and political organization, offer obstacles to full understanding and collaboration in North Africa. And the traditional nature of its society, based on Roman and Arabic forms, is a drag on Spanish American nations that must enter the twentieth century.