Author Archives: Sophie Baby

About Sophie Baby

Sophie Baby is associate professor in modern history at the University of Bourgogne, France. Her research focuses on the history of mass violence and its memory in contemporary Western societies. Her first book, Le mythe de la transition pacifique. Violence et politique en Espagne (1975–1982) (2012), explores violence in the supposedly “peaceful transition” in Spain. Her forthcoming book, Juger Franco? Impunité, reconciliation, mémoire (2024) traces the legacy of mass violence in Spain in a history of reconciliation and justice since 1945.

Collective Impunity for Transition? Consenso and the International Travels of a Spanish Paradigm

Before South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation, there was the Spanish consenso. The idea of negotiated and peaceful consensus it embodied, as a way to overcome violent pasts after the end of dictatorship, was forged in the work of Communists, Socialists, Christian Democrats and human rights organisations both internationally and in Spain from the late 1950s onwards. Following the death of Franco and Spain’s successful democratization from the late 1970s, it would then become an influential approach that travelled internationally for two decades. This article highlights the role Continue reading → Continue reading →