On US Strategic Interests in Post-Franco Spain

The purpose of this article is to reveal the efforts of the United States aimed at maintaining its dominance in the world, including by exerting a predominant influence on the domestic and foreign policies of many states. The emphasis of the research is focused at Spain. Geopolitical considerations of the time justified the deployment of 4 American military bases at Spain, governed by authoritarian regime of F. Franco in the early 1950s. However, after the collapse of the Francoist regime (1975), the United States faced new challenges. Those included the growth of the influence of previously banned leftist political forces as well as the increase in demonstrations for the withdrawal of American military infrastructure. Sentiments against Spain’s accession to NATO also became widespread. Therefore, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and the USSR (1977) marked by progressive development of their political component was regarded as the threat of disruption of previously established mechanisms of the USA influence on Spain. In response to these challenges, the US ruling elite formulated a number of strategic objectives aimed at containing and neutralizing the aforementioned challenges. Those objectives included: preventing the "leftist shift" of Spain; retention of American military bases; assistance in the country's accession to NATO; hindering the development of relations between Spain and the USSR. The research is based on general scientific methods, with special emphasis put on problem-historical method, which has shown its effectiveness in analyzing the political situation at Spain in the 1980s. In addition to individual monographs, the source base of the research includes materials from the Spanish periodical press. The author also conducted high-quality content analysis of Spanish media from various ideological orientations (conservatism, centrism, liberalism). The specific issues on the matter are explored with references to Soviet expert assessments, which proved to be particularly useful because of general lack of information. The facts and individual assessments presented in the article can be used at educational programs of the Department of International relations and foreign policy of Russia in the lecture course of "History of International Relations".