Based on the Law for Political Reform (Law 1/1977, of January 4, for Political Reform) in SPAIN:

The concept of political transition refers to a process of radical transformation of the rules and mechanisms of participation and political competition, either from a democracy to authoritarianism or from it towards democracy. Strictly speaking the concept it is applied to the analysis of the transition from an authoritarian regime to one polyarchic (Dahl 1961). From a general perspective, the term transition refers to a process of change whereby a preexisting political and/or economic regime is replaced by another, which involves replacing the values, norms, rules and institutions associated with this other (as) different (Santamaria: 1982). This means that transitions are not always confined to political, but can also affect other areas. Thus, in addition to the political sphere, we should refer to the economic, institutional or that other one that affects the organization of the State, the conjunction in some spatial areas has been characterized as a revolution without historical precedent (Offe: 1992) .

What is the political transition?

During the decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s various processes of political change occurred in Northern Europe, Latin America and Eastern Europe who have made political scientists as Schmitter, Karl, Pridham, Ostos, Dahl, O'Donnell and Alcantara began to study political transitions, understood as a change of regime (regime traditional authoritarian regime, traditional regime democratic regime of authoritarian rule to democracy and democratic regime to political regime). the political regime refers to the patterns that determine the forms and channels of access to government positions, the type of players who can occupy these positions and resources and legal strategies to access them. Transition time interval is all extending between a system and another, ie the entire period includes different phases; preparation, establishment and early consolidation. During this time the rules of the political game are not well defined, hence adjustments / mutual accommodations between actors and their strategies (O'Donnell, 1998). changes and transformations in the institutional field are produced and mutating the mechanisms of participation, political behavior and the rules of the political game. Similarly, economic-social and national-territorial issues also change. Exemplify the theory with a practical case, the passage of an authoritarian to a democratic character. At first, the political institutions and practices that are in the hands of an elite, gradually become more open and citizen participation is driven in this line operation structures and political practices contained in the Constitution (drafted in disputed transition process).

There is no 'general theory' of transitions that can be applied in all cases, as each process is unique, with degrees and different rhythms (Aguilera, 2009) and interfere with an almost unlimited number of factors. Every political transition is fraught with uncertainty. It is difficult to establish causality unambiguous and impossible to predict with certainty future changes (Dahl, 1976) relations. Ambiguity is another characteristic of the process of political transition as former regime elements and is in the process of consolidation combined.

There are two generic modes of transition reform and rupture, in practice, dominated the first since it allows negotiation among broad sectors of government, with very different interests and ideologies

What are the processes and dynamics?

As already it noted the political transition is the period since the crisis of a regime until the establishment and consolidation of another. Not simple matter to set a start time and another end of the transition, Alcantara speaks of 'theoretical problem of the end of a transition.' Yet several experts political scientists in the field have distinguished different phases in the process of political transition: 1) crisis of the authoritarian regime, 2) decision/introduction to overcoming the existing regime and 3) consolidation and persistence (habituation) (Morlino, 1985; Alcantara, 1994; shaim / Linz, 1995).

What is needed to carry out a transition?

For a political transition to take place subject to the existence perform necessary. The actors have a significant leeway above the structural constraints (Aguilera, 2006). Here are the most important figures in these processes.

- Civil Society

Civil society (set of social, economic and political actors organized to defend and promote their interests) have much relevance in the success or failure of the transition, depending, above all, of their involvement and mobilization. Indeed transitions can be made 'from above', but their success is more complicated, especially for the lack of consensus. In this respect, the existence of political and civic culture in a society is critical because it will allow the authoritarian regime is viewed negatively both its ineffectiveness and its illegitimacy. The start of a wave of mobilization can be seen as a collective response to the widespread expansion of political opportunities, in which the costs and risks of collective action are dwindling and the potential gains (Tarrow, 1991) increase.

- The armed forces

The role of the armed forces in regime change lies in two aspects: 1) its importance within the regime and 2) its intervention in the transition itself. The army can help keep the dictatorial regime or, on the contrary, favor its fall through internal pressures. The military can start opening or break off a discredited military government, among others.

- Hard and soft

Within the elite of a dictatorial regime found the sector 'hard', which advocates institutionalize dictatorship and want the perpetuation of authoritarian rule, and the 'soft', which tends to soften the dictatorship because every time the greater your awareness that the regime which contributed to implementing, and which usually occupy important positions, have to resort in the foreseeable future to some degree or form of electoral legitimacy and grant certain freedoms (O'Donnel / Schmitter, 1991), its main role in the transition is the alliance and making pacts with the opposition.

-\tThe opposition

When the transition is made primarily 'from below' it is enormous the role of the opposition, whose role is to develop mechanisms to develop adaptable to the stage of transition strategies.

-\tThe political parties

They serve to organize the various ideological trends and interests. A broad spectrum of parties helps consolidate the new regime, especially if these parties are moderate and conducive to dialogue and consensus.

- The international situation

Outside pressure, in terms of presence and overacting agents or international circumstances, is the fundamental explanation of the political transition in some cases. External influence may be regarded as a change and catalysis exceeds the mere external pressure. The wave of democratization has a domino effect from one country to another, and at the same time, alignment and relationship with an international standard mean a secure achievement of the change process. Finally, the attitudes of neighboring countries and superpowers can accelerate or even political changes affect their success (Alcántara, 1992).

- Pacts

Covenants and agreements also have a fairly large weight in transitions, O'Donnel and Alcantara believe that although not essential if they favor the development of positive and successful transitions. Furthermore, this approach avoids the use of violence, both by authoritarian rulers and the opposition, which gives more favorable conditions for the triumph of democracy perspectives. Agreements between the various forces endow transitions order, security, and confidence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AGUILERA DE PRAT, C. (2006): 'Political transitions' in Carminal, M (ed.), Handbook of Political Science, Tecnos, Madrid.

ALCÁNTARA SÁEZ, M. (1992): 'Transitions to democracy in Spain, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Elements approach to a comparative study ', Journal of the Center for Constitutional Studies, No.11, January-April. http://campus.usal.es/~acpa/sites/default/files/RCEC_11Alcantara.pdf

ALCÁNTARA SÁEZ, M. (1994): Governance, crisis and change, CEC, Madrid.

DAHL, R.A. (1989): The poliarquía. Participation and opposition, Tecnos, Madrid.

HUNTINGTON, S.P. (1990): The political order in changing societies, Polity Press, Buenos Aires.

Morlino, L. (1985): How to change political regimes. Analytical instruments, CEC, Madrid.

O'DONNEL, G. and SCHMITTER, P.C. (1991): Tentative Conclusions on uncertain democracies, vol. 4 of transitions from authoritarian rule, Polity Press, Buenos Aires.

Shain, Y., LINZ, J.J. (Eds.) (1995): Between States. Interin Governments and democratic transitions, Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.

Tarrow S. (1991): 'Aiming at a Moving > Targe: Social Science and the Recent Rebellions in Eastern Europe'., Political Science and Politics, Vol XXIV, No. 1, March 12-19.

thank you very much Dear Colleague Rafael Díaz