Spanish Politics and Society University of Chicago Raimundo Viejo Viñas Office

The State of Autonomies  Today, Spain is one of the most decentralised countries in Europe. After the failure of two republican attemps, now we are living the longest period of decentralized government in History.  The State is territorially organised in 17 “autonomous communities”: the 3 “historical nationalities” (Galicia, Catalonia, and the Basque Country) and the other 14 spanish regions.  But, even if Spain is a decentralised unitarian State, it is not a federal one. We can say that the Spanish State is a “federalising” political system, but it is not a fully-fledged “federation”.

The State of Autonomies  What’s federalism?  According to Daniel Elazar, Federalism means “self- rule plus shared-rule”. In this sense, Spain could be considered as a federal political system, as several political scientists do.  However, in a strict sense, federalism requires free independent states united in a federation. And this is certainly not the case for the Spanish State.  The territorial structure of the Spanish State is rather the complex, dynamic result of the transition pacts and their further development.

The State of Autonomies  Constitutionally speaking, Spain is not a federal state. There are not federal institutions like an upper chamber of territorial representation (only 44 of 252 senators represent their Autonomous Communities).  The Spanish Constitution of 1978 was the result of a bargaining process between different political forces. Spanish conservatives wanted to continue keeping the centralist model of the provinces. Stateless nationalists wanted more self-government or the independence. Socialists and Communists preferred a federal system.

The State of Autonomies  No political force was fully satisfied or completely against the Spanish Constitution.  However, in the Basque case, things got complicated: The Basque Nationalist Party (moderate catholic conservatives) did not vote for the constitution ETA opposed to the Spanish Constitution  As a result, the Spanish Constitution has an important lack of legitimacy in the Basque Country: it is the only Autonomous Community, where the “yes” to the Constitution was not majoritarian

The State of Autonomies  The Spanish State of Autonomies is a mixed model that results from combining: The 50 provinces created by Javier de Burgos. The recognition of 3 historical nationalities (Catalonia, Galicia, and the Basque Country), and 14 other second-rank regions. The perspective of a general decentralisation for the whole State.

The State of Autonomies  Political decentralisation of the State was never planified by anyone.  Decentralisation is rather the result of a changing balance between political forces: If a Spanish party (PP or PSOE) wins a majority, decentralization is slowing or stoped. For example between 1982 and 1993 (PSOE) or between 2000 and 2004 (PP) If no Spanish party wins a majority, it is forced to compromise with stateless nationalisms (decentralization accelerates). For example between 1978 and 1982 (UCD), between 1993 and 1996 (PSOE), between 1996 and 2000 (PP) and from 2004 until now

The State of Autonomies  All autonomous communities are organised under a common institutional framework Proportional representation One single chamber parliament Some separate powers (the so-called “competencias”) Some shared powers with the central government  The elections at the different levels of government are not-concurrent in Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country. For the rest, regional elections coincide with municipal elections.

The State of Autonomies  Spain is an asymmetrical State: it means that not all the territories have the same relation with the central government (for example, the Basque country is the only autonomous community that can collect all taxes)  The strong territorial asymmetries within the political system have provoked rivalry among the different Autonomous Communities.  Thus, decentralisation in Spain is a dynamic, unfinished process depending on party politics and electoral results.