Is Spain becoming a militant democracy? Empirical evidence from Freedom House Reports

Militant democracy can be seen as a useful theoretical category. Its main ob-
jective is to preserve the regime by eliminating its opponents through the legal
means. They may affect fundamental civil rights and freedoms including free-
dom of the press. There are two objectives of the article. The first is to determi-
ne the differences between the declaratory level, based on national legislation
and legal acts adopted between 2008-2017, and actual level of freedom of the
press in Spain, based on press freedom status presented in reports of Freedom
House. This comparison will provide an answer to the question if Spain is be-
coming a militant democracy or not. The second objective is to explain the
reasons for these differences as well as to formulate conclusions related to the
adoption of the attributes of militant democracies by Spain with special refe-
rence to freedom of the press.