MODERNIZADORES Y TECNÓCRATAS. ESTADOS UNIDOS ANTE LA POLÍTICA EDUCATIVA Y CIENTÍFICA DE LA ESPAÑA DEL DESARROLLO.

MODERNIZERS AND TECHNOCRATS. THE U.S. AND SPAIN'SEDUCATIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC POLICY IN THE YEARSOF DEVELOPMENTISM.

SPAIN-United States relations; INTERNATIONAL relations; MODERNIZATION (Social science); TECHNOCRACY; HISTORY of dictatorships; DEMOCRACY; HISTORY of education; TWENTIETH century

Desde la instalación de sus bases militares en España, los dirigentes norteamericanos fueron conscientes del dilema que suponía colaborar con el régimen y, al tiempo, preparar el futuro posfranquista. En los años sesenta la convergencia de intereses con los cuadros tecnócratas españoles, en torno a la fórmula de modernización y desarrollo, permitió encontrar espacios de colaboración en el terreno de la política educativa y científica. Las autoridades españolas comprendieron la necesidad de acometer reformas en ambos ámbitos para respaldar el crecimiento económico, ante la evidencia de que era preciso contar con cuadros mejor formados que pilotasen el proceso de modernización. Estados Unidos vio en ello una oportunidad para influir en la evolución de la sociedad española y, por extensión, para atenuar una identificación no deseada con el franquismo y moldear a los «protagonistas del futuro». El respaldo a la Ley General de Educación de 1970 constituyó el episodio postrero de una trayectoria en que la diplomacia pública norteamericana hubo de desenvolverse en la cuerda floja, entre el entendimiento con la dictadura y el apoyo a la democracia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1950s, when Americans completed their military bases in Spain, U.S. officials knew they were caught in the middle of an almost impossible dilemma: they had to maintain their collaboration with the Francoist regime, while fostering relations with some opposition groups that could have a voice in a post-Franco Spain. In the 1960s, American officials and local technocrats found common ground in the formula 'modernization and development'. The Spanish authorities understood the need for reforms in the fields of education and science, in order to sustain short and long-term economic growth. To implement them the country required more and better instructed technicians able to direct the country's modernization. The U.S. government, always looking for soft-power ways of influencing the evolution of Spanish society, saw the situation as an opportunity to achieve its goals while downplaying America's identification with Francoism in the eyes of the 'leaders of the future'. The support of U.S. officials to the reformist General Law of Education of 1970 became the last chapter in the fine line American Public Diplomacy had to walk between its association with the Spanish regime and its support for democratic changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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