But with the oil shock added to the country's already complicated economic background, the positive factors in Spain are much harder to see.

Mr. Sternberg, 48, is a Syracuse University graduate with a complicated background.

She's also oddly breezy about her navigation of what, for a less self-assured individual, might seem a complicated ethnic background.

Eddie began life on Baywatch as a teenager with a complicated background.

Each of them has their deep secret, dark past and complicated background.

The plan for 1991 would be implemented against "a very complicated international background".

The second issue is a much more straightforward one--with a much more complicated background.

The Western Sahara conflict is extremely difficult and has a complicated background.

The complicated background to the conflict shows the depth of the divisions involved.

Of the two, Mitchell, from a broken home and with apparent problems of self-esteem, seems to have the most complicated background.