This essay employs a state-structuralist approach to explain the emergence ofsocial concertation as a policy mechanism to facilitate democratization andeconomic liberalization in post-Franco Spain. Concertation emphasizes theinstitutionalization of consultation and cooperation on macroeconomic policyinvolving peak representation from the state, employers' associations, and theorganized labor movement. The author demonstrates how state structures andinstitutional legacies played the critical role in fashioning a favorablestrategic environment for the adoption of concertation during the restorationand consolidation of democracy in Spain. In doing so, this research departsfrom conventional approaches to the study of the making of concertation thatemphasize either the strength of the bargaining agents from capital and laboror the social democratic composition of the government. Moreover, it reveals asignificant role for state institutions in charting a successful path todemocracy and the market economy.