Centralización y «autonomías locales» bajo el Estado Liberal en España. Una confrontación de normas con prácticas

Abstract

In this article, the relationship between centralization and "local autonomies" during the construction of the liberal Spanish state in the middle of the nineteenth century is approached, focussing attention, on the one hand, on the areas of authority granted by this state to municipal governments, and on the other, on the autonomy enjoyed by the social groups which controlled them directly or indirectly. The author addresses rules and pactices in some specific municipalities, and carries out a comparative analysis. He considers verifiable in Spain the thesis stated by R. Romanelli, related to the Italian liberal state, that the institutionalization of social life experienced quite different forms in the various regions of the country and according to municipally, and, in particular, that the increasing areas of authority given to "local" authorities achieved unforeseen results and had unexpected consequences.