In pursuit of votes and economic treaties: Francoist Spain and the Arab world, 1945–56

Abstract

During the second half of the 1940s the Franco regime found itself isolated in the international arena and confronting severe economic distress. As a strategy for ending the diplomatic boycott imposed on it by the United Nations and expanding foreign trade, Spain began to cultivate close relations with the Arab world. This article examines Francoist Spain's systematic campaign to woo the Arab countries, in the course of which even the regime's failure to establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state founded in 1948 became a vehicle for improving its ties with the Arabs. In contrast to the diplomatic front Franco was only partially successful in his efforts to foster economic cooperation with these Muslim countries. Finally, all his hopes that hostility towards Israel and political and economic relations with the Arab countries would allow him to maintain Spain's control over northern Morocco proved illusory.