The Spanish transition from the Franco regime to democracy has not been a very popular subject amongst researchers examining transitional justice at the international level. This impression can be easily supported by conducting a search through the list of countries in which the attention of publications and/or scientific activities have focused on this subject. However, Spain presents certain peculiarities that make it an interesting case in which to explore comparative law and sociology. It has sometimes been seen as a model of peaceful transition, but has also been labelled as an example of an “amnesic” transition to a democratic system in which victims’ rights, justice and truth were forgotten. During the Spanish transition, some of the decisions taken were very different from those made in Europe and in certain Latin American countries.

As Huyse pointed out, post-Franco Spain could be seen as an example of a “third route towards impunity”. It was not impunity derived from a unilateral decision taken by the old authoritarian regime (self-amnesty) and it was not even impunity accompanied by a process in which the truth concerning the atrocities of the past was declared. Almost all of the democratic forces agreed to confer immunity on individuals who had committed crimes either defending or opposing the authoritarian regime; there was a conscious decision not to look back to the past and to forgive without setting any kind of conditions. As in post- War France, post-Franco Spain was an example of a policy of forgetting. Nino, and later Elster, presented the Spanish case as one of the transitions that took place in Southern Europe during the 1970s. However, the similarities in the situations of Spain, Greece and Portugal were little more than a coincidence. Spain was the only case in which a decision was taken to avoid transitional justice. This has sometimes been praised, but never copied.

The first Act that included an explicit condemnation of the Franco regime was not passed until 2007, more than thirty years after the dictator's death. We should therefore ask ourselves whether Spain's lack of memory has, in fact, really come to an end and whether transitional justice itself has been anything more than just a time bomb.