Peace as Democracy: Civic Participation and Anti-Nuclear Movements in Spain and Italy at the End of the Cold War

In the early 1980s, large-scale, creative demonstrations against NATO's double-track decision mobilized thousands across Europe. This article examines the disarmament and peace protests of this period, not primarily through the lens of Cold War geopolitics but rather by exploring how perceptions of the bipolar conflict shaped ideas and practices of popular participation and exposed the limits of Western liberal democracies. Notably, the article will set out a comparison of the peace movements in Italy and Spain. Spain was undergoing a complex democratic transition away from a long-standing authoritarian and military regime, and Italy was recovering from the institutional repression of the radical movements of the 1970s and the terrorism of the extreme right and left during the so-called ‘years of lead’. Both countries possessed deeply-rooted Catholic cultural traditions alongside the pivotal yet contentious roles of the Communist parties and other radical leftist factions. Focusing on a comparative analysis of Italy and Spain – two countries with distinct paths to liberal democracy and protest traditions – the study investigates civic engagement in societies sometimes seen as hostile to popular participation. By highlighting peace movements in these Southern European contexts, the article challenges the narrative of 1980s European political apathy, offering new insights into political activism beyond Northern Europe's more documented histories. Drawing on diverse primary sources – including declassified CIA files, activist journals, and grassroots documents – the article explores how Spanish and Italian activists linked peace to broader debates on democracy and emerging forms of individualization of political participation. Ultimately, it asks: to what extent did efforts to influence foreign policy and depolarize East–West tensions reshape political action and participation in Italy and Spain during the early 1980s?