Spanish Authorities Research Articles

Preventing jihadist radicalisation in Spanish prisons

The process of radicalisation, that often takes place in prisions in European and Muslim countries, is extremely important to understand the challenges and threats for the international security, caused by jihadist terrorism. It is necessary to analyse how condemned individual becomes involved in militant activities. The article analyses the problem of violent radicalisation in Spanish prisions and examines anti-terrorist policy based in this context on the idea of prevention, deradicalisation and disengagement. The research is focused on the conditions and purposes of the Spanish strategies and programmes introduced in the penitentiary centers in the response to the jihadi recruitment in the Iberian Peninsula. The author emphasises the priorities of the National Strategic Plan to Combat Violent Radicalisation approved in 2015 and other initiatives and regulations to stop the Salafi proselytism and unable the indoctrination activities among the Muslim in prisions. The methodological analysis is based on the integration of historical and system method and refers to the Marc Sageman’s theory of the jihadist network, which is more appropriate to understand how they appear and operate. The main finding of the article is that Spanish authorities have implemented the multidimensional and integrated programmes countering violent extremism and anti-radicalisation in prisions that are effective, despite some elements that could be improved.

Constructing the Spanish Empire in Havana: State Slavery in Defense and Development, 1762–1835

Constructing the Spanish Empire in Havana: State Slavery in Defense and Development, 1762–1835

The application of administrative sanctions in the fight against IUU fishing: An assessment of Spanish practice

In the last decade, Spain has been notable for large administrative sanctions imposed on its nationals and operators implicated in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities. This paper examines, first, the practice of the Spanish authorities under the administrative sanction regime for IUU fishing activities conducted by Spanish nationals and operators. Second, an assessment of the legal framework under which the Spanish authorities have been established such administrative sanctions will be examined.

Can subsidies to permanent employment change fertility decisions?

I examine the causal effect of incentives to permanent employment on fertility by exploiting exogenous variation in subsidies given by the Spanish local authorities to employers converting temporary jobs into permanent ones. The amount of the subsidy varies across regions, in the age and gender of the employees whose contracts are converted, and within these three dimensions over time. Using administrative individual-level panel data, I show that subsidies to permanent employment have a positive impact on the probability of entering parenthood for male employees but not for female employees. In contrast, subsidies increase the likelihood of having a second child for both male and female workers. I also find that the effect of subsidies on fertility is lower in magnitude for individuals who have a high opportunity cost of having a child, such as young, highly educated and non-cohabiting individuals. Based on a different aggregate dataset at the municipality level, I replicate the findings from the main analysis and quantify the incidence of subsidies to permanent employment for the Spanish population, which raised fertility by 1.43% at a cost of 18,964 euros per child born.

Implicit, Explicit, and Structural Barriers and Facilitators for Information and Communication Technology Access in Older Adults.

Older adults’ usage of information and communication technology (ICT) is challenged or facilitated by perception of usefulness, technology design, gender, social class, and other unspoken and political elements. However, studies on the use of ICT by older adults have traditionally focused on explicit interactions (e.g., usability). The article then analyzes how symbolic, institutional, and material elements enable or hinder older adults from using ICT. Our ethnographic methodology includes several techniques with Spanish older adults: 15 semi-structured interviews, participant observation in nine ICT classes, online participant observation on WhatsApp and Jitsi for 3 months, and nine phone interviews due to COVID-19. The qualitative data were analyzed through Situational Analysis. We find that the elements hindering or facilitating ICT practice are implicit-symbolic (children’s surveillance, paternalism, fear, optimism, low self-esteem, and contradictory speech-act), explicit-material (affordances, physical limitations, and motivations), and structural-political (management, the pandemic, teaching, and media skepticism). Furthermore, unprivileged identities hampered the ICT practices: female gender, blue-collar jobs, illiteracy, and elementary education. However, being motivated to use ICT prevailed over having unprivileged identities. The study concludes that society and researchers should perceive older adults as operative with technologies and examine beyond explicit elements. We urge exploration of how older adults’ social identities and how situatedness affects ICT practice. Concerning explicit elements, Spanish authorities should improve and adapt ICT facilities at public senior centers and older adults’ homes, and ICT courses should foster tablet and smartphone training over computers.

Mobility and wellbeing during the covid-19 lockdown. Evidence from Spain.

The lockdown of March and April 2020 declared by Spanish authorities in the Valencian Region to bending the Covid-19 curve, caused a drastic reduction of the economic activity and a severe limitation of mobility. People were asked to stay at home as much as possible. Education and administrative centers, as well as restaurants, theaters, sport arenas, etc., were closed. Work at conventional workplaces was prohibited for people who could tele-work, and students were compelled to attend classes on-line. Such limitation of mobility and spending so many time at home, could affect the wellbeing of people. The objective of the present paper is to present a study on the differences on wellbeing according to the mobility of respondents during the lockdown.Information from 1,827 individuals regarding the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness) and Positive and Negative affect were collected through and web-survey during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with mobility data and sociodemographic characteristics. Mann-Whitney U tests, Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Structural Equation models are used to find out differences in the wellbeing of people according to their mobility characteristics during the first lockdown, and how these mobility characteristics are associated to the psychological variables studied.Mobility of people during the first lockdown reduced drastically, especially the youngest ones, and the main travel mode was walking. In general, the youngest participants in this research and females present lower values of the psychological wellbeing variables during the lockdown. A very low or very high degree of mobility is also associated to discomfort, although the more time spent traveling the better people feel. Those who walked more are related to lower values of wellbeing. Some lessons are learned to improve transport and mobility planning during a pandemic.

Impact of Three Safety Interventions Targeting Off-Label Use of Immediate-Release Fentanyl on Prescription Trends: Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

Background: The Spanish health authorities are concerned by the off-label use of immediate-release formulations of fentanyl (IRF) in noncancer pain and cancer pain in patients with no chronic pain therapy. Aim: To evaluate the impact of different interventions to improve appropriateness of IRF prescription on off-label prescription. Patients and methods: We used interrupted time series (ITS) to estimate immediate and trend changes of IRF prescription for noncancer pain (NCP) and breakthrough cancer pain (BCP) in patients with and without chronic cancer pain therapy associated with two medication reviews (I1 and I2) and the issue of a safety warning letter (I3) with data from a Spanish region with 5 million inhabitants, from 2015 to 2018. Results: The use of IRF for NCP in the region Valencia was reduced from about 1,800 prescriptions per week to around 1,400. The first medication review was followed by an immediate level change of −192.66 prescriptions per week (p < 0.001) and a downward trend change of −6.75 prescriptions/week (p < 0.001), resulting in a post-intervention trend of −1.99 (p < 0.001). I2 was associated with a trend change of -23.07 (p < 0.001) prescriptions/week. After I3, the trend changed markedly to 27.23 additional prescriptions/week, for a final post-intervention trend of 2.17 (p < 0.001). Controlled-ITS provided comparable results. For potentially inappropriate BCP use, the second medication review was followed by a downward, immediate level change of −10.10 prescriptions/week (p = 0.011) and a trend change of 2.31 additional prescriptions/week (p < 0.001) and the issue of the safety warning (I3) was followed by a downward trend change of −2.09 prescriptions/week (p = 0.007). Conclusion: Despite IRF prescription for NCP decreased, the interventions showed modest and temporary effect on off-label prescription. Our results call for a review of the design and implementation of safety interventions addressing inappropriate opioid use.

The Economic Impact of Closing the Boundaries: The Lower Minho Valley Cross-Border Region in Times of Covid-19

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 crisis experienced since early 2020 has been the first time in decades that all the boundaries between European Union member-states have been systematically re-set. This paper examines the economic impact derived from re-establishing the boundary on a particular cross-border region located between Galicia (Spain) and Portugal. The paper begins by outlining the theoretical considerations on the interplay between borders and economy. After examining the case-study area and the decisions taken by the Spanish and Portuguese authorities in an attempt to control the spread of the virus in 2020, the article explains the methods used to obtain the results. Two sets of results are presented. Firstly, the direct consequences for cross-border economic activities are considered. Secondly, the fall in Gross Domestic Product is quantified for sectors and municipalities in the cross-border region, distinguishing between, on the one hand, the overall effect caused by the restrictions due to the lockdown situation and, on the other, the precise impact attributed to the re-establishment of the international boundary. This is a worthy addition to previous literature given that this paper details the specific economic effects caused by the COVID-19 crisis in a cross-border region directly affected by the boundary closure.

On the evolution of the COVID-19 epidemiological parameters using only the series of deceased. A study of the Spanish outbreak using Genetic Algorithms

We propose a methodology for estimating the evolution of the epidemiological parameters of a SIRD model (acronym of Susceptible, Infected, Recovered and Deceased individuals) which allows to evaluate the sanitary measures taken by the government, for the COVID-19 in the Spanish outbreak. In our methodology the only information required for estimating these parameters is the time series of deceased people; due to the number of asymptomatic people produced by the COVID-19, it is not possible to know the actual number of infected people at any given time. Therefore, among the different time series that quantify the pandemic we consider just the number of deceased people to minimize the square sum of errors.The time series of deaths considered runs from March to the end of September and is divided into four sub-periods reflecting the different isolation measures taken by the Spanish government. The parameters that we can estimate are the time from the beginning of the disease, the transmission rate, and the recovery rate; these last two ratios are estimated in each of the different sub-periods. In this way the model considered has 2x4+1=9 parameters that are estimated jointly over the whole period from the data of deceased. Given the complexity of the model, to estimate the parameters that minimize the square sum of errors, a Genetic Algorithm is used.Our methodology confirms the effectiveness of the sanitary measures taken by the Spanish government showing a dramatic reduction in the basic reproductive number R0 during confinement; also, a further increase in R0 after the end of the alarm state decreed by the government on June 21 was detected. Our results also point out that the Patient Zero in the COVID-19 Spanish outbreak emerged between the end of December and early January, at least four weeks before January 31st, that was the moment when the Spanish authorities reported the first positive case.

The limits of China’s engagement in the Mediterranean: Role conflict and emerging mistrust in Spain–China relations

ABSTRACT Spain has recently endorsed a more critical stance towards China. This article explains this posture through the application of role theory and the concept of (mis)trust. Role conflict has intensified from the interplay between China’s new roles of great power and economic and technological competitor, Spain’s higher expectations towards China, and Spain’s self-identified role, greatly influenced by its relations with its traditional European and US allies. This has generated mistrust, and Spanish authorities have shown greater concerns about Chinese behaviour. As a result, they have turned to a more conditional co-operation as evidenced by a series of recent foreign policy outcomes on the BRI, foreign investment, and 5 G networks.

Achieving Universal Digital Literacy through Universal Design for Learning in Open Educational Resources

Over the years, the Spanish education authorities have proposed various measures, such as the creation of Open Educational Resources (OERs), to guarantee the inclusion of all students in the education system. However, the literature on this topic indicates the persistence of certain challenges relating to the accessibility of OERs. In this regard, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is presented as a possible solution to this problem as it advocates the personalisation of learning and facilitates the achievement of universal digital literacy. This study seeks to investigate the accessibility of OERs’ design for those early stages in education that are managed by the Spanish education authorities. To this end, a guide of indicators has been designed to assess OERs in accordance with the principles of UDL. The sample is made up of 67 OERs, selectively based on a number of requirements. This study uses a quantitative and exploratory research methodology for the analysis of the data obtained. The main findings highlight the shortcomings of OERs in terms of accessibility, adaptability and universality, demonstrating that OERs do not respond to the principles of UDL.

Regulations against the Covid-19 pandemic in spanish prisons

The pandemic caused by SARS-COVID-2 has supposed an extraordinary challenge for prisons. There is an unavoidable need to take action to stop the entry and spread of the virus, however, the measures must respect prisoners' rights and must not constitute any kind of inhuman or degrading treatment. Spanish prison authorities have published and extensive normative that has transformed life in prisons during the pandemic. We have reviewed the content of these norms, which's main treads are: no discrimination and the guarantee of an equivalent treatment than that to the regular population; coordination of medical authorities; interruption or diminution of the spread of the virus from or towards prisons; the strengthening of alternatives to closed regime sentences; mobility restriction methods inside prisons, and measures to minimise the risks employees are exposed to. In general, the measures have respected prisoners' rights. However, indefinite quarantine practices have likely violated them, being that there were other alternative measures. Ultimately, the extensive vaccination of prisoners has public health implications, constitutes an ethical imperative towards this group of vulnerable people and should be implemented promptly.

Improving Operational Ocean Models for the Spanish Port Authorities: Assessment of the SAMOA Coastal Forecasting Service Upgrades

The Puertos del Estado SAMOA coastal and port ocean forecast service delivers operational ocean forecasts to the Spanish Port Authorities since 01/2017 (originally set-up for 9 ports). In its second development phase (2019–2021), the SAMOA service has been extended to 31 ports (practically, the whole Spanish Port System). Besides, the next generation of the SAMOA service is being developed. Research is being focused on (1) updating atmospheric forcing (by combining the AEMET HARMONIE 2.5 Km forecasts and the IFS-ECMWF ones), (2) upgrading the circulation model (ROMS), and (3) testing new methodologies to nest SAMOA systems in the Copernicus IBI-MFC regional solution (with emphasis on its 3D hourly dataset). Evaluation of specific model upgrades is here presented. Model sensitivity tests have been assessed using the available in-situ and remoted sensed (i.e., RadarHF) observations. The results show that SAMOA outperforms IBI-MFC in sea level forecasting at meso- and macro-tidal environments. Improvements by the herein proposed upgrades are incremental: some of these set-ups were used in the last SAMOA operational releases (i.e., the SAM_INI and the SAM_ADV ones; the later currently in operations), whereas the latest test (SAM_H3D) ensures more nesting consistency with the IBI-MFC and improves significantly surface currents and sea-surface temperature simulations.

5 - Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the management of Equatoguinean Refugees from 1960 to 1979

From the colonial period to the end of the dictatorial regime of Macías Nguema in Equatorial Guinea, many Equatoguineans were forced into exile by the authorities of that state. Anti-colonial struggles and the repression by Macías Nguema caused a massive influx of refugees into Cameroon. Some of these refugees worked in Cameroonian plantations. The Spanish colonial authorities in Equatorial Guinea accused the government of Cameroon of exploiting their citizens in their various industrial plantations in Bandjock and Akonolinga. The Cameroonian government, in response, denied having used the refugees in contravention of international laws. This article analyzes the presence of Equatoguinean refugees in Cameroon as well as the controversy and tensions surrounding their use in industrial plantations in Cameroon between 1960 and 1979. It concludes that while allegations of abuse of Equatoguineans in Cameroonian industrial plantations are difficult to substantiate, there is evidence that Cameroon did provide support for anti-colonial and dissident Equatoguinean exiles, which negatively affected the relations of the governments of President Ahidjo and Macías Nguema.

Foodways, Missionaries, and Culinary Accommodation in the Mariana Islands (1668–74)

Abstract The Jesuits played a vital role in the diffusion of crops, animals, agricultural practices, and eating manners throughout the early modern world. In the Mariana Islands (western Pacific), the arrival of the first missionaries in 1668 entailed the introduction of new foods and food-related material culture deemed necessary to establish a self-sufficient mission. However, during the first six years of the mission (1668–74), the resistance and opposition of the native inhabitants—the CHamoru people—to the Jesuits’ activities, the unreliability of maritime trade routes, the conflicts that arose inside the Society of Jesus, and the tensions between the Jesuits and the Spanish colonial authorities affected missionaries’ expectations regarding diet and cuisine. This article explores the strategies that the Jesuit missionaries followed to adjust their foodways to the social and physical environment of the Mariana Islands and pays attention to the process whereby local foods were adopted. In that sense, it argues that culinary accommodation—or “gastronomic accommodation” as defined by Cristina Osswald—was both a common practice to overcome the lack of Iberian resources and a political strategy to ease tensions and forge alliances with the indigenous population.

State-Led Actions Reigniting the Financialization of Housing in Spain

ABSTRACT Since the 2008 economic recession, state intervention in the real estate sector has strengthened. This article explains how housing financialization was reignited in Spain following key policy reforms in 2013. We argue that Spanish authorities managed to strategically recreate a finance-friendly environment to attract global investors. They combined financial policies, other deregulatory reforms and neoliberal measures in a coordinated manner we call a policy package. Our analysis provides evidence of the legal and political arrangements at various state levels that effectively facilitated the reanimation of a new cycle of housing financialization which caused rising inflation in prices and distress in tenants’ rights. This approach contributes to the understanding of how state-led actions foster a spatial fix to overcome financial crises by granting global speculative funds extraordinary benefits. In addition, we show how this process occurred with poor democratic accountability and was also confronted by various forms of social contestation.

The relationship between port-level maritime connectivity and efficiency

This paper examines the empirical relationship between maritime connectivity and port efficiency. To do so, a stochastic output distance function is employed which permits the effect of connectivity on port technical efficiency to be estimated for a sample of Spanish ports. Previous studies analysing the relationship between efficiency and connectivity have used country-level connectivity indices. In the present study, port-level connectivity indices are used for the first time for this type of analysis. A novel panel dataset of 16 Spanish ports observed over the period 2006–2016 is constructed by crossing port-level connectivity information from UNCTAD's Port Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (PLSCI) with port-level production data from Spanish port authorities. The results from our estimation show a positive relationship between connectivity and port efficiency. It is found that relatively modest improvements in observed connectivity are associated with large differences in expected output.

‘I prefer not to know’: Spain’s management of transnational adoption demand and signs of corruption

The safeguards and measures to prevent child trafficking mentioned in the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption have proven insufficient in curbing the so-called irregular adoptions. An analysis of how Spanish central authorities and intermediary agencies managed the flow of adoption dossiers between 2003 and 2013 presents their inability to react swiftly to the imbalance between adoption demand and supply. The 2015 reforms in the Spanish law introduced measures to bring demand in line with real needs. However, imaginaries that portray adopters and children from the Global South as victims of meaningless bureaucracy continue to hold true even today.

Intermediary roles in the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into domestic legislation: Evidence from Spain

This article discusses the role played by regulatory intermediaries including non-state actors, professional associations and transnational networked agencies during the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into Spanish national legislation. It aims to fill in the gap in prior research by extending the application of the Regulator–Intermediary–Target (RIT) theoretical framework to the field of audiovisual media regulation. The analysis focuses on the transposition stages of the Directive after the date of entering into force on 19 December 2018, up to 19 September 2020. Data are taken from publicly available national sources and European databases. Results show that the RIT framework helps to single out the main initiatives undertaken by relevant Spanish authorities and institutional players, their methods and responses to policy challenges. Mapping out regulatory intermediaries and network of relationships established among multiple actors facilitates our understanding on the complex forms of audiovisual governance and implementation of European law.

Deportation of “Undesirable” Chinese in the Philippines, 1837–1882

Abstract Between 1837 and 1882, the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines deported “undesirable” Chinese—vagrants, drunkards, unemployed, idlers, pickpockets, undocumented, and the “suspicious”—to various parts of the archipelago. Deportation, in this context, refers to the transportation or banishment of individuals deemed “dangerous” by the state to different far-flung areas of the islands or outside the colony but still within the Spanish empire. Deportation primarily served as a form of punishment and a means to rehabilitate and improve the wayward lives of “criminals.” This paper examines the deportation of “undesirable” Chinese in the nineteenth-century Philippines. Using underutilized primary materials from various archives in Manila and Madrid, it interrogates the actors, institutions and processes involved in banishing such individuals. It argues that while deportation served its punitive and reformative functions, Spanish authorities also used it to advance their colonial project in the islands. Chinese deportees formed part of the labor supply the state used to populate the colony’s frontier areas and strengthen its control over its newly-acquired territories.