^aInstitut d'Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux, Bureau 114, Domaine Universitaire, 11 Allée Ausone, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France. E-mail: n.lachmann@sciencespobordeaux.fr

Abstract

This article traces Spain's relation with the Transatlantic Security Community. It highlights the exclusion of the Franco regime from participation in this community, the specificity of the process leading to Spain's inclusion in the community at the end of the Cold War, and the highly divisive stance in the community of the Aznar government during and after the Iraq crisis of 2002/2003. I argue that these features are best understood through the framework of securitization, which provides insights on both external and internal exclusionary politics by security communities. These are linked to the importance of a common security culture regarding international threats to the collective identity of the participants, concerning exclusion of outsiders, and the claim that dissent over policies means weakening the security communities' unity and hence its existence, concerning the exclusion of insiders. In this context, as I show by the recent relations between Spain and the Transatlantic Security Community, participants might start to act no longer in a way to perpetuate the existence of the community.