Federalism without Adjectives in Spain

Abstract

Is Spain a federal system? Most experts do not give a straight answer and define the system with adjectives. They tend to underline how it differs from other federations, rather than focusing on what they have in common. This article presents Spain as a fully fledged federation, analyzes the process of political decentralization (1978–2010) to explore the ways it is constitutionally entrenched, and confronts the arguments of its critics. I argue that some of its idiosyncratic institutions are precisely what turn the Estado de las Autonomías into a federal system. A clarification about what makes Spain a federation is needed to prevent future reforms from turning it into what it already is, rather than effectively improving its functioning, and to dissipate the kind of Spanish exceptionalism that makes this case seldom considered in comparative studies.

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