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Why did Spanish banks Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Banco Santander (BS) play a prominent role in the liberalization of banking and financial systems in Latin America since the second half of the 1990s? This paper argues that the decision-makers in the Spanish banks perceived that their firms had a competitive advantage (market knowledge) in these markets and therefore decided to invest there. Market knowledge came from the similarity of the processes of political and economic liberalization in Spain and Latin America. Theoretical models for the study of foreign direct investment have relied heavily on the experience of US multinational enterprises (MNEs). Models developed to explain the investments of MNEs from central and Northern Europe, as well as Japan, tried to adjust the American theoretical model to the peculiarities of these firms. However, in most cases the emphasis was on manufacturing firms. The case of Spanish banks poses several challenges: Spanish firms are latecomers and they operate in service sectors. In this paper I propose a constructivist model that looks at the process of co-constitution between firms and markets. The managers of the Spanish firms helped shape the Spanish financial and banking sector with other agents, mainly the government, regulators and consumers, adjusting their internal structures to the market. In the 1990s, Spanish managers believed that the normative framework resulting from the implementation of structural reforms in Latin America was similar to that in Spain and believed their firms had the knowledge and organizational skills to succeed under such conditions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberal theorists argue that economic exchange reduces conflict and facilitates relations among states. Realist theorists claim that economic relations are instruments of state power. I will review these theories and analyze how the recent investments of Spanish firms in Latin America have led Spain to insert itself as an active player in the Inter-American state system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 19th century, the obsession of Spanish reformists has been to make up the lost ground with modernized countries. This paper examines the integration experience of Spain in the European Union in order to study how integration has affected its economic structures and economic performance. It examines the relationship between regional integration, economic growth, and economic reforms in this country, and draws some lessons based on its EU integration experience. In particular it looks at the impact of European Monetary Union (EMU) integration in the Spanish economy. While the overall benefits of EMU membership are undeniable, contrary to expectations It has not led to a process of deep economic structural reforms that would have fostered the development of an economic growth model based on value added and productivity. The examination of the Spanish case will show that the process of economic reforms has to be a domestic process led by domestic actors willing to carry them out. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain is considered a new immigration country whereby 7% of its 43 millions inhabitants are immigrants. While this number does not include illegal immigrants because of the difficulty in exacting an accurate number, estimates suggest about 1.5 million of people are non-documented immigrants (43% of the total). It was with Aznar's administration (1996-2004) that the Spanish government implemented a new migration policy that has led to a securitization of migration with a very strict migration law thus contributing to the maintenance of 'fortress Europe'. With the governmental change in March 2004, expectations have grown about a new migration policy that is more flexible and without criminalization of migrants. Zapatero's administration has begun to formalize the status of 'illegal people' staying in Spain but it is just the first step in managing a very problematic situation. The main aim of this paper is compare the two governments' attitude and understandings about migration and what the effects have been of these at the European and international levels addressing the question: can we speak of a real change of direction in the migration policy of Spain? ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spurred by a decade of remarkable economic growth between 1995 and 2005, Spain rapidly emerged as Europe’s most important immigrant destination: the number of non-Spanish citizens resident in Spain mushroomed from five hundred thousand in 1995 to over three and a half million by 2005. With the government lacking the bureaucratic infrastructure to handle massive immigration, the vast bulk of immigrants arrived without authorization. Successive Spanish governments responded by periodically undertaking large-scale immigrant legalizations or regularizations. Granting irregular migrants amnesty rewards an illegal activity, but is usually justified as a way to “wipe the slate clean” so that future immigration will be better managed and controlled. The Spanish example demonstrates that this is a false hope: migrants granted temporary work and residence permits generally overstayed their authorization periods while new irregular migrants continued to arrive. The case of Spain reflects similar dynamics at work in Italy, Portugal, and Greece. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]