Nation and democracy

Interview with José Álvarez Junco

Abstract

José Álvarez Junco (1942) is a reference in the political history of Spain. As the culmination of a career linked to democratic commitment -he has been director of the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies and a member of the Council of State of Spain- and to critical analysis, in 2002 he received the National Essay Award for his work Mater Dolorosa. The idea of ​​Spain in the 19th century. Professor at the Complutense University, he held the Prince of Asturias Chair at Tufts University in Boston for almost a decade. Among his works we must highlight: La Comuna en España, Siglo XXI (1971); The political ideology of Spanish anarchism, 1868-191 O, Siglo XXI (1976); The "Emperor of the Parallel". Alejandro Lerroux and populist demagogy, Alianza (1999); Sorrowful Mother. The idea of ​​Spain in the 19th century, Taurus (2001); and useful gods. Nations and nationalisms, Galaxy Gutenberg (2011). On the occasion of a seminar that was intended to bring order to the national story about Al Ándalus, held in Madrid, at Casa Árabe, where we were invited, I spoke to him about coming to Granada to interview him. He accepted, with his proverbial bonhomie immediately. Here is the result of that conversation on April 11, 2018, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Granada, in the presence of the dean of the Faculty, Professor José Antonio Pérez Tapias.