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The scientific debate regarding populism has been renewed by the rise of extreme right-wing parties in Western Europe. Spain was an exception to the European situation until Vox stormed onto the scene in the Andalusian regional elections in December 2018. By taking into account the definition of populism from Jaager & Walgrave (2007), Mudde (2007), Hawkins (2010), Charaudeau's populist discourse analysis (2009), and the idea of "contamination" by Hernández Carr, 2011 and Van Spanje, 2010, this article presents the results of an analysis regarding the discourse of the tweets published by the candidates of the three right-wing national parties during the electoral campaign in Spain prior to the day of the elections on 28 April 2019. The aim of the study is to reveal whether Abascal's discourse conforms to the parameters of the populist style, and whether there was contamination by Abascal (Vox) of the issues and rhetoric of Pablo Casado (Partido Popular-PP) and Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos-Cs). Firstly, the quantitative analysis shows that Abascal's political discourse on this social network is in line with the discursive strategies of populism; Secondly, the Vox leader behaves differently from the candidates of the PP and Cs. Finally, the influence of Vox's discourse on the other two parties with which he competes on the right-wing ideological spectrum is lower than expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the relations between the press and political power, during the Spanish transition to democracy in the late 1970s, focusing on discursive relations between political actors with power or challenging power and the media which interpreted their developments. It analyses how the main media, in the discourse of their news stories and editorials, framed events to construct a 'reality' for the public, aiding or impeding the construction of a democratic public sphere. The study is based on an analysis of journalistic discourse in ABC, La Vanguardia, El País (daily newspapers) and Triunfo (a weekly political magazine) in their coverage of key events in the period between the death of Franco (November 1975) and the approval of the Basque and Catalan statutes (November 1979). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence of child abduction for intercountry adoption challenges our notions of altruism. The history of illicit adoptions and child abduction is presented with specific emphasis on Guatemala as a case example. Drawing on data produced in an ethnographic research, the analysis searches to elucidate how those involved in intercountry adoption in Spain (mainly adoptive and prospective adoptive parents) deal with signs of fraud and corruption. The results point out how these discourses usually dismiss the failures of the system and revolve around the idea of rescue. The rights of birth families – and even their mere existence – are usually absent in the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]