Devolution in Spain

12 Key excerpts on "Devolution in Spain"

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  Regional Institutions and Governance in the European Union

  • José Magone(Author)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  The different procedures envisaged by the constitution have encouraged a multispeed process, whose harmoniza- tion has been strongly resisted by Basque and Catalan nationalists. The latter have benefited from a favorable context within which constitu- tional and policy-making arrangements are reinterpreted to enhance its position within both the Spanish and EU decision-making processes. More specifically, the decentralization process in Spain could be char- acterized as "devolution through conflict" and has consistently re- mained one of the overarching features of Spanish politics since 1975 Devolution in the European Union 81 (Roller 1999). In the case of participation in EU matters, the reluctance of the central government to encourage the adoption of mechanisms or to support effective institutions that would serve to promote regional participation in the implementation of EU legislation has increased the level of conflict between the central and regional governments. In particular, the nature of the 1978 Spanish constitution has had three important effects on the devolution process. First, its complex and ambiguous nature reflects great compromise on the territorial organi- zation of the Spanish state, although its contradictory and vague termi- nology has frequently led to conflicting interpretations. Second, political decentralization is characterized by sovereignty being de- volved and not divided. The entire process is based upon the indissol- uble unity of the Spanish nation as being one of the fundamental premises of the Spanish constitution, yet it is from the same constitution that the autonomies derive the powers they are entitled to execute.

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  Diverging Mobilities

  Devolution, Transport and Policy Innovation

  • Danny MacKinnon, Jon Shaw, Iain Docherty, Danny MacKinnon, Jon Shaw, Iain Docherty, Steven Tiesdell(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Elsevier Science Ltd

    (Publisher)

  As Salmon and Keating (2001) observe, much of the debate about the transformation of the state has been conducted at a general, abstract level rather than offering detailed examinations of change in particular places. One of the most concrete and tangible processes in this respect is devolution. Since the 1970s, many unitary states across the world have introduced some degree of devolution, strengthening the regional scale of government ( Rodriguez-Pose & Gill, 2003 ). This has produced an assortment of institutional arrangements, stretching from the strong regionalism of Spain to the functional (administrative) regionalism found in Portugal or Sweden ( Keating, 1998 ). From the perspective of the central state, devolution can be seen as part of a broader process of territorial management, designed to meet the two underlying territorial objectives of the state: ‘‘preserv[ing] the integrity of the territory, and ensur[ing] legitimacy within these boundaries through popular support for and acquiescence to its political authority’’ ( Rokkan & Urwin, 1983, p. 166 ). It is instructive to note, however, that the introduction of political decentralisation has often not been enough to settle debates over devolution and regionalism, sometimes leading to further stages of reform. Whilst the observation that devolution is a process not an event has become something of a cliche´ in the context of British devolution ( Davies, 1999 ), the adoption of a broader international perspective serves to emphasise its underlying validity ( Hazell, 2001 ). The purpose of this chapter is to place our study of transport policy in the UK within the broader context of the literature on devolution and state restructuring, outlining the theoretical perspectives that inform the book and reviewing the process of devolution in other states.

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  Regional and National Elections in Western Europe

  Territoriality of the Vote in Thirteen Countries

  • R. Dandoy, A. Schakel, R. Dandoy, A. Schakel(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  The next section explores congruence of the vote and second-order effects, and considers political and contextual variables which may help us to better understand regional election behavior. The data are presented for the historical and non-historical regions separately. The historical regions have more authority, follow their own election cycle, and are culturally and linguistically distinct from the non-historical regions. We may expect to see these differences reflected in regional electoral results.

  11.2. Regional government and regional elections

  Although the constitution does not explicitly define Spain as a federal system, it recognizes the right to self-government of the regions and provides a list of powers that are exclusively assigned to either the national or the regional governments. Spain is not a homogeneous country as there are linguistic, historical and cultural differences across the regions. As a result, the decentralization process set in motion in 1978 evolved in an asymmetric way across the territory but also over time. The three ‘historical nationalities’ (Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia) acceded to autonomy almost immediately through a fast and simplified process. The other regions3 were required to take a slower route, with limited powers at the start. Andalusia was an exception to this general rule, although it was not a ‘historical nationality’ – a special and quicker route was created for this region as a result of mass demonstrations for the recognition of its right to self-government.4

  After the proclamation of the Spanish Constitution, each region approved its own Statute of Autonomy. By May 1983 the entire country had been divided into 17 units called ‘autonomous communities’ (autonómas comunidades), with different degrees of power. The cities of Ceuta and Melilla obtained their autonomy statute in 1995 and the number of non-historic autonomous communities increased by two. The transfer of powers to the regional governments is determined in an ongoing process of bilateral negotiations between each region and central government, which gives rise to occasional disputes. Regional governments with fewer devolved powers press for the opportunity to keep up with the more authoritative regions, while regional governments with the largest degree of self-government want to keep their differential status. The negotiations produce new rounds of decentralizing reforms, the last of which was the reform of the Statutes of Autonomy between 2004 and 2011.5

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  Federalism beyond Federations

  Asymmetry and Processes of Resymmetrisation in Europe

  • Ferran Requejo, Nagel Klaus-Jürgen, Ferran Requejo, Nagel Klaus-Jürgen(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The third critical context was marked by the lack of absolute majorities from 1993 to 2000, spanning the last governments of Gonzalez (PSOE) and the first government of Aznar (PP). The weakness of the federation governments and the need to find support among parties with no state-wide representation led to a certain degree of reliance on both logics. On the one hand, political decentralisation was evident in the acceleration of competency transfers, the delegation of federal competencies to the ACs (by means of Article 150.2 of the Spanish Constitution), a partial transfer of income taxes to the ACs, and a reform of the Senate to allow the participation of AC governments, which were granted voice but no vote. On the other hand, the early years of this period evidenced the demise of the PSOEPP consensus and a forceful opposition to the government by Aznar, leading to a partial process of defederalisation through the contesting of AC laws, paralysis in the transfer process and conflicts over competencies.

  The fourth context (2000–04) developed during Aznar’s period of absolute majority. During his second mandate, outright recovery of Spanish nationalism was the guiding political interpretation for the State of Autonomies, which rapidly led to a qualitative change in the state of affairs. A recentralising approach was adopted through an administrative and managerial dynamic that handled autonomy in a non-political manner, along with systematic encroachments upon competencies of the subfederal entities through base, organic, or other laws. It also led to resymmetrisation by means of non-recognition of the nationalities and regions, a belligerent stance regarding peripheral nationalism, reinforcement of the administrative, political and economic centrality of Madrid, and so on.

  The fifth and final context began in 2004 with the Zapatero governments, which in the absence of an absolute majority required the support of nationalist parties in Parliament. Since then a modernising period has been under way, strengthening and deepening the territorial model, in contrast with prior PSOE and PP governments. Political decentralisation has also been fostered in conjunction with channels for accommodating the nationalities of a ‘plural Spain’. The Conference of Presidents of Autonomous Communities was launched, along with a reform of the Statutes of Autonomy, beginning with the Catalonia text, in order to reinforce self-government and re-establish negotiations with non-state-wide parties.

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  Managing and Settling Ethnic Conflicts

  Perspectives on Successes and Failures in Europe, Africa, and Asia

  • NA NA(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  In Belgium and the United Kingdom, as well as in Spain, asymmetric devolutions of political and administrative pow- ers have been enacted to accommodat e divergent territorial interests and identities (Keating 1999). Such asymmetric decentralisation legitimates the claim that those ter- ritorial sub-units with a greater degree of cultural distinctiveness (or hecho differencial}-apart from the state's dominant cultural tradition and ethnic bias-also have greater rights to extensive self-rule, a qualifi- cation used tojustify the powers allocated especially to the Basque Coun- try and Catalonia. But the broadly trilateral differences, encouraged by Spain 's asymmetric decentralisation as provided in the constitution of 1978, have made an easy resolution of some conflicting claims impossi- ble, as Spanish-identified regionalists challenge the primary legitimacy of both non-Spanish nationalist and state-centralist ideals. The result has been a quasi-federalism that, in its discretionary flexibility, fails in its appeal to all and instead encourages a continuing divergence of political identities and interests within the Spanish state. The recent proliferation in Spain of territorially linked, political identi- ties is due both to historical legacy and present factors. The conceptual foundations for the state-centralist, Spanish regionalist and non-Spanish nationalist identities are inherited from Spain's past, as outlined in the section immediately below. While Spain was afflicted with a 'stateness' problem-with militant Basque nationalism of particular concem-dur- ing the country's transition to democracy from the mid-1970s into the 1980s, collusion by the dominant parties of the centre-right and centre- left, along with a state-wide founding election, had a crucial consolidat- ing effect. However, this consensual nature of politics and the recognition that Spain's 'stateness' problem required institutional accommodation produced a constitution similarly based on negotiated compromise . The result was a document that allocated power unevenly to different and

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  Political Power in Spain

  The Multiple Divides between MPs and Citizens

  • Xavier Coller, Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo, Fabiola Mota, Xavier Coller, Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo, Fabiola Mota(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  © The Author(s) 2018

  Xavier Coller ,

  Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo and

  Fabiola Mota (eds.)

  Political Power in Spain https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63826-3_13

  Begin Abstract

  13. The Organization of Spain: Ideology, Territory and Representation in the State of Autonomies

  Sandra León

  1  

  ,

  Fabiola Mota

  2  

  and

  Mayte Salvador

  3  

  (1) University of York, York, UK

  (2) Department of Political Science and IR, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

  (3) Department of Constitutional and Public Law, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain

   

   

  Sandra León  (Corresponding author)

    Fabiola Mota

    Mayte Salvador

  Keywords State of autonomies Devolution Party system integration

  End Abstract

  13.1 The Territorial Model in Spain

  In Spain, as in other countries in which decentralizing reforms were implemented following a dictatorship, devolution was associated with the deepening of democracy and the transformation of State structures, with the aim of modernizing them and improving their efficacy and control by closing the gap between public administration and citizens. At the same time, the creation of the State of Autonomies signified the institutionalization of regional self-government as a way of dealing with demands for autonomy and recognizing the differentiated realities present in Catalonia and the Basque Country (Linz 1985 , p. 244; León 2013 , p. 70).

  Spain’s model of self-governing regions can be considered a variant of the compound State model, midway between the decentralized unitary State and a federation (Solozobal 1992 ; Moreno 1997 ; Aja 2001 ; Colino 2009

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  The Second Tier of Local Government in Europe

  Provinces, Counties, Départements and Landkreise in Comparison

  • Hubert Heinelt, Xavier Bertrana(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  intermediary level of local government may no longer be needed in the future, and they are locating economic cooperation within a broader framework aimed at improving local policies and services. Therefore, this new cooperation model represents an effort by the provinces to legitimise their existence. It places the provinces between mere technical and economic cooperation and assistance and commitments to integrate them more closely into the autonomous communities in order to develop their own local competences and powers, as is adressed in the next section.

  12.4 Recent Debates and Reforms

  During the last 30 years, the decentralising processes that have led to the rescaling of the traditional Spanish state institutions and, in particular, to the development of the autonomous communities, have completely altered the distribution of power (Colino and Del Pino 2011). However, the status of local governments ‘proved not to be in the original plans of decentralisation and autonomy’ (Agranoff 2010: 83).

  Local governments are considered as the Cinderella of recent political evolution in Spain because the devolution process has been challenged to a certain extent ‘with the logic of a trade-off between the regional and the local governments, with the former ones always having the priority’ (Alba and Navarro: 2003: 198). However, this trade-off has affected the provinces more than the municipalities.

  The Spanish provincial councils have developed a limited range of responsibilities because their competences have over time been confined to cooperation with municipalities and their policies have become highly dependent on decreasing central state funding. Moreover, their electoral system moves them further away from the citizens and weakens their legitimacy. Despite the political and constitutional constraints, nowadays the provincial councils are one of the main focuses of attention in the debate about reform of the Spanish local government system.

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  Globalization and Change in Higher Education

  The Political Economy of Policy Reform in Europe

  • Beverly Barrett(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Making sense of regionalism, domes- tic policy, and internationalization is key to identifying political economy influences on policy reform and implementation. Spain is referred to as the Estado de las Autonomas, the state of autonomous communities. There exist preferences among some Spaniards to use the term “decen- tralized” or “quasi-federal” rather than “federal” to explain Spain’s governmental structure. 1 Regionalism is a distinctive characteristic of Spanish federal government across the 17 autonomous communities. The autonomous communities of Catalunya, Galicia, and the Basque Country, in particular, have a history of strong regional nationalism, national languages, and overtures toward independence from Spain. This regional nationalism is in tension with the national government seated in Madrid. The word “regionalization” is used together with decentraliza- tion to describe the higher education system in post-Franco Spain (Mora and Vidal 2005:140). Together with regionalization, internationalization is another defin- ing word for Spain in the Bologna Process. Particularly as a driver of the higher education reforms, internationalization is central, given that “the Bologna Process is all about internationalization” (Matilla Vicente 2012). Within the process of internationalization, the government, edu- cation, and research sectors have a dynamic relationship. Concerning domestic policy, the original EU treaties lack instruments of direct pol- icy intervention in areas such as education and employment which are national competencies. According to the EU treaties, the Member States 164 B. BARRETT have the exclusive oversight of competency in education policy. While the Treaty of Lisbon, in effect since December 1, 2009, defines a role for the EU in supporting the Member States in education and vocational training in Title 12, Articles 165 and 166 (Appendix A).

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  Federalism in the European Union

  • Elke Cloots, Geert De Baere, Stefan Sottiaux, Elke Cloots, Geert De Baere, Stefan Sottiaux(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Hart Publishing

    (Publisher)

  11 The European Court of Justice and the Devolution of Taxation Powers SUZANNE KINGSTON * I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND F OR A NUMBER of Member States, the constitutional balance between certain regions and central government has been struck by means of devo-lution. While there are probably as many varieties of devolution as there are devolved States, it can, at its broadest, be understood as the transfer of compe-tences from a superior to an inferior regional political authority. 1 Such transfer may occur in relation to legislative, executive and judicial powers, but may differ considerably per State, and indeed within States, as to its nature and degree, as well as the legal means by which it is achieved. Thus, while in Member States with written constitutions, devolution tends to be constitutionally enshrined, with further detail added by implementing laws, 2 in the UK, without any written con-stitution, devolution was achieved by ‘mere’ Acts of Parliament. 3 Similarly, while in some Member States devolution of powers has been achieved on a symmetrical basis, with all regions granted devolved powers pursuant to a federal model, 4 in others devolution takes place on an asymmetrical basis, with only certain regions or communities granted a (greater) level of autonomy from the central State. 5 The fundamental challenges to national identity that may be posed by devolu-tion have been addressed at length in the political science literature. 6 While, from one perspective, the lessening of control by central State powers may represent a politically palatable compromise in the face of separatist demands, from another it may represent the first step in an irreversible process leading, potentially, to the * Barrister; Lecturer, University College Dublin. 1 See V Bogdanor, Devolution in the United Kingdom (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001) 2. 2 See, eg the Spanish and Portuguese examples in relation to the Basque Country and the Azores, set out below.

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  Multinational Federations

  • Michael Burgess, John Pinder(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  dades Autónomas enjoy a much higher degree of self-government as compared to federated units in other formally established federations in the world (e.g. Latin America).

  Rather than as a result of a well-defined constitutional separation of competencies and powers, federalization in Spain has developed in an inductive manner, step by step. Actions by Jacobin centralists encroached in sections of the public administration and in some influential Spanish parliamentary parties, together with those of their ‘adversaries’ in the minority nationalisms and regional governments (principally, Basque and Catalan), have favoured bilateral and ad hoc centre-periphery relationships. For quite different reasons both influential political and administrative elites at both central and regional spheres have shown reluctance to encourage horizontal and multilateral processes of decision making. As a result, the Estado de las Autonomías has not unfolded explicitly into a formal federation or federal-like system of government because of a less-developed shared rule in the general governance of the country. Likewise, the persistence of political terrorism in the Basque Country has highly conditioned inter-party negotiations for an eventual constitutional reform and formal federalization.

  Table 6.1 Territorial distribution of public expenditure in Spain (%)

  Spain can be regarded as a remarkable example of how an exclusivist ethnic order (Franco’s dictatorship), modelled after the ideal-type of a Castilian hegemonic Volstaat or core-nation (Brubaker, 1996), has evolved into a liberal and plural democracy. Likewise, the consensual agreement made explicit in the 1978 Constitution can be interpreted as an unwritten pledge to extend the procedures of political dialogue and consociationalism as guiding principles for future developments of internal accommodation.

  In this chapter a review of historical events is meant to provide background information on ethno-territorial cleavages and politics of territorial accommodation in Spain. It is followed by a section devoted to substantiate the claim that the Spanish Estado de las Autonomías

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  The Identity of Nations

  • Montserrat Guibernau(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Polity

    (Publisher)

  Spain: symmetric devolution After forty years of dictatorship, the 1978 constitution provided a new politi-cal framework within which Spaniards could organize their lives. One of the 46 National Identity, Devolution and Secession major issues faced by the new regime was the national question, particularly acute in Catalonia and the Basque Country. 55 The new constitution radically transformed the centralist non-democratic socio-political regime inherited from Francoism and made possible the creation of the Autonomous Com-munities System based on symmetrical devolution. The lack of violence in the transition to democracy, the almost immediate acceptance of Spain by NATO and the European Community (now the European Union), and the rapid expansion of the economy engendered a socio-political dynamism which stood in sharp contrast to the backwardness and conservatism of the Franco years. 56 The makers of the constitution opted for a model based upon symmetrical devolution – what has been referred to as ‘coffee for everyone’ ( café para todos ). 57 Yet, instead of directly responding to the nationalist demands of Catalonia and the Basque Country as nations which had enjoyed their own institutions and laws until the eighteenth century, and which still maintained their own separate identities, specific cultures and languages, they decided to divide the territory of Spain into seventeen autonomous communities. 58 Some of them were historically and culturally distinct – Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia – but others were artificially created where no sense of a separate identity had previously existed – for instance, La Rioja and Madrid. While Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia could imme-diately initiate the process towards full autonomy, other regions had first to fulfil a five-year ‘restricted autonomy’ period. Once full autonomy is achieved, however, the constitution makes no distinction between the communities.

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  The Political Geography of Inequality

  Regions and Redistribution

  • Pablo Beramendi(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  I pay particular atten- tion to two policy areas: the timing and pace of the regionalization of the income tax, as part of broader changes in Spain’s fiscal arrangements; and the fate of the case to decentralize social security. endogenous decentralization and changes to the status quo: the partial achievement of fiscal autonomy and the resilience of social security In addition to the distributive tensions between a group of wealthier and rel- atively more equal regions (Catalonia, the Basque Country) and a group of poorer and relatively more unequal regions (Andalucia, Extremadura, Galicia), the Spanish process of decentralization reflects a fundamental tension between those seeking the reduction of asymmetries across policy realms (including revenue generation and allocation) and those seeking to maintain them. The Basque Country and Catalonia are not only richer and more equal. They are also regions where a different national identity has been mobilized by parties that have long enjoyed a dominant position in the regions’ political spectrum, the PNV in the Basque Country and CiU in Catalonia. Moreover, these par- ties are influential players in the national parliament. The presence of national identity as a second dimension introduces a centrifugal element that counterbal- ances an otherwise centripetal institutional design and contributes to shaping the dynamics of political and fiscal decentralization in Spain. In the case of the Basque Country and Catalonia, national identity reinforces the distribu- tive incentives to seek a more decentralized fiscal structure. At first, national parties resist these pressures. Over time however, the political influence of these forces changes with important consequences for the evolution of Spain’s fiscal structure. By way of background, a brief overview of the dynamics of decentralization in Spain follows.

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