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The Engaging Power of English-Language Promotion in Franco's Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2015

ÓSCAR J. MARTÍN GARCÍA
Affiliation:
COFUND Marie Curie Junior Fellow, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Aarhus University, Denmark; [email protected]
FRANCISCO J. RODRÍGUEZ JIMÉNEZ
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Salamanca and Fellow of the Real Colegio Complutense, Harvard University; [email protected]

Abstract

The United States' support for the Franco dictatorship, along with British dominion over Gibraltar, caused an increasing sense of frustration towards the United States and United Kingdom amongst broad sectors of the Spanish public during the 1960s and 1970s. Growing resentment towards the Anglo-American presence in Spain threatened to jeopardise the geopolitical objectives of these two governments given the strategic importance of the Iberian Peninsula in the Cold War. Both the Americans and the British identified the promotion of the English language as a cultural tool to develop empathy amongst those Spaniards who would drive forward the eventual transition to a post-Franco era. This ‘soft power’ strategy fit perfectly with the pro-modernisation efforts taking place in several parts of the world. English teaching did not serve as a magic potion, however. Cultural seduction was not a cure-all to right the wrongs inflicted by the Anglo-American geostrategic priorities. This article explores the benefits and limitations of English language promotion in Franco's Spain and reflects on the ability of ‘soft power’ to influence what was a rather hostile hard-power context.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

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63 English Language Teaching as an Important Tool of Foreign Policy, 23 Sept. 1963, NARA, RG 306, Subject folders 1955–1971, box 121.

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72 First Impressions: A Country Poised, 4 Apr. 1977, NA, FCO 2641; Powell, Charles, ‘España en Europa: de 1945 a nuestros días’, Ayer, 49 (2003), 110Google Scholar; William Chislett, ‘El antiamericanismo en España: el peso de la historia’, Instituto Elcano, working paper 47 (2005), 1.

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