Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T17:25:13.364Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Building a federal state: phases and moments of Spanish regional (de)centralization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2018

Ainhoa Novo Arbona Open the ORCID record for Ainhoa Novo Arbona [Opens in a new window] ,
Sergio Pérez Castaños Open the ORCID record for Sergio Pérez Castaños [Opens in a new window]  and
Jonatan García Rabadán Open the ORCID record for Jonatan García Rabadán [Opens in a new window]
Ainhoa Novo Arbona
Affiliation:
Department of Private Law, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
Sergio Pérez Castaños*
Affiliation:
Department of Private Law, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
Jonatan García Rabadán
Affiliation:
Department of Private Law, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Two main elements characterize a country as federal and the development of its federal system. The first one is directly connected to competences and how regions may or may not have powers over public policies. The second one focuses on the fiscal arena, and how regions generate their own income and share it with the central government. This paper describes from a historical point of view the different phases that the Spanish federal process has followed since its beginning in 1978 up to the last reform in 2016. These phases are related to the composition of both the regional and the national governments. It is therefore is important to investigate the connection between changes in these compositions and how they may have affected the phases of decentralization. Employing the new institutionalism paradigm and seeking for critical junctures in the different moments, we show how national governments are more important in shaping this process than regional ones.

Keywords

fiscal federalismpolitical decentralizationregionsfederalismdecentralizationSpain
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , November 2019 , pp. 263 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bednar, J (2011) Nudging Federalism towards productive experimentation. Regional and Feral Studies 21, 503–521.Google Scholar
Bednar, J (2015) The resilience of the American Federal System, in M Tushnet, S Levinson and M Graber (eds). The Oxford Handbook of the U.S. Constitution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 283–302.Google Scholar
Beramendi, PMáiz, R (2004) Spain: Unfulfilled Federalism, in U Amoretti and N Bermeo (eds). Federalism and Territorial Cleavages. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, pp. 123–154.Google Scholar
Capoccia, GKelemen, RD (2007) The study of critical junctures. Theory, narrative, and counterfactuals in historical institutionalism. World Politics 59, 341–369.Google Scholar
Colino, C (2009) Constitutional change without constitutional reform: Spanish federalism and the revision of Catalonia’s Statute of autonomy. Publius 39(2): 262–288.Google Scholar
Convery, ALumdberg, TC (2017) Decentralization and the centre right in the UK and Spain: central power and regional responsibility. Territory, Politics, Governance 5(4): 388–405.Google Scholar
Elazar, D (1990) Exploring Federalism. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Field, BN (2016) Why Minority Governments Work. Multilevel Territorial Politics in Spain. London: Palgrave-MacMillan.Google Scholar
Gómez de la Torre, M (2010) Las etapas en la financiación autonómica. Un nuevo sistema de financiación. Anuario Jurídico y Económico Escurialense 43, 331–354.Google Scholar
Hamann, KMershon, C (2013) Los gobiernos autonómicos en España: explorando las teorías sobre la formación de los gobiernos, in JM Reniu (ed.), Pactar para gobernar. Dinámicas coalicionales en la España multinivel. Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch, pp. 73–99.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L, Marks, G, Schakel, AH, Chapman Osterkatz, S, Niedzwiecki, SShair-Rosenfield, S (2016) Measuring Regional Authority. A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance, Volume I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Immergut, E (1992) Health Politics: Interests and Institutions in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Irepoglu Carreras, Y (2016) Fiscal decentralization and inequality: the case of Spain. Regional Studies, Regional Science 3(1): 296–303.Google Scholar
Kincaid, JTarr, GA (2005) Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Democracies. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press.Google Scholar
Kollman, K (2013) Perils of Centralization: Lessons From Church, State, and Corporation. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
La Pergola, A (1984) La técnica constitucional de la autonomía, in JJ González Encinar (ed.), Autonomía y Partidos Políticos. Madrid: Tecnos, pp. 29–62.Google Scholar
León, S (coord.) (2015) La financiación autonómica. Claves para comprender un (interminable) debate. Madrid: Alianza.Google Scholar
León, SFerrín Pereira, M (2011) Intergovernmental cooperation in a decentralised system: the sectoral conferences in Spain. South European Society and Politics 16(4): 513–532.Google Scholar
Lijphart, A (1999) Patterns of Democracy. Governing Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New Have: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Máiz, R, Beramendi, PGrau, M (2002) La federalización del Estado de las Autonomías: Evolución y déficit institucionales, in J Subirats and R Gallego (eds). Veinte Años De Autonomías En España. Madrid: CIS, pp. 379–425.Google Scholar
Marks, G, Hooghe, LSchakel, AH (2008) Measuring regional authority. Regional and Federal Studies 18(2–3): 111–121.Google Scholar
Majeed, A, Watts, RLBrown, DM (2005) Distribution of Power and Responsibilities in Federal Countries. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, LWVanberg, G (2003) Policing the bargain: coalition government and parliamentary scrutiny. American Journal of Political Science 48(1): 13–27.Google Scholar
Matas, J (2015) La formación de un Gobierno de coalición. Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch.Google Scholar
Matas, J (2000) Coaliciones políticas y gobernabildiad. Barcelona: ICPS.Google Scholar
Meyer, JWRowan, B (1977) Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83, 340–363.Google Scholar
Meyer, JWScott, WR (1983) Organization Environments: Ritual and Rationality. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Ministry of Finance (2002) Informe sobre la reforma del sistema de financiación autonómica. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Fiscales.Google Scholar
Mondragón, J, Elizondo, A, de la Peña, A, Juaristi, F, Mokoroa, JLNovo, A (2015) Análisis de las Conferencias Sectoriales (2001-2012). Madrid: INAP.Google Scholar
Requejo, F (2005) Multinational Federalism and Value Pluralism: The Spanish Case. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Riker, WH (1962) The Theory of Political Coalitions. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, WH (1964) Federalism: Origin, Operation, Significance. Boston: Little Brown.Google Scholar
Scott, WR (2001) Institutions and Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Steinmo, S (2013) Institucionalismo histórico, in D Della Porta and M Keating (eds). Enfoques y Metodologías de las Ciencias Sociales. Madrid: Akal, pp. 131–152.Google Scholar
Streeck, WThelen, K (2005) Introduction: institutional change in advanced political economies, in W Streeck and K Thelen (eds). Beyond Continuity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–39.Google Scholar
Tornos, J (2013) The distribution of competences in federal systems. A proposal for a hypothetical constitutional reform in Spain, in A López Basaguren and L Escajedo San Epifanio (eds). The Ways of Federalism in Western Countries and the Horizons of Territorial Autonomy in Spain. Berlin: Springer, pp. 501–526.Google Scholar
Watts, RL (1999) Comparing Federal Systems. London: Mc Queen’s.Google Scholar
Zucker, LG (1977) The role of institutionalization in cultural persistence. American Journal of Sociology 42, 726–743.Google Scholar