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The criminal justice system, the criminal enforcement system and the prison system are realities built from an androcentric perspective. The fact that only a small part of the crimes that are prosecuted and sentenced have been committed by women places them in a minority position in the enforcement system, which means they have less access to resources and services. This paper aims to analyse what strategies have been undertaken in recent years in order to introduce gender-based transformations in criminal enforcement in Catalonia and to determine what challenges remain. Firstly, we present quantitative and qualitative data relating to the population of women in prison. We then analyse how the passing of new legislation aimed at recognising and extending the principle of equality and non-discrimination in Catalonia impacts criminal enforcement, favouring the deployment of initiatives such as the creation of gender referents for penitentiary centres and specific programmes for women in prison. After reviewing some interesting initiatives promoted from outside the Catalan territory, the paper concludes with six proposals aimed at improving the situation of women who come in contact with the criminal enforcement system and at introducing a gender perspective in the penitentiary system.

In Spain, regional policies on gender equality in the workplace must be coordinated with other policies at the European and national levels, in a multi-level governance framework. With this approach, this paper analyses, transversally and with a power distribution perspective, the areas of action and the powers of the autonomous communities in terms of making policies that achieve real equality between women and men in the workplace. The main premise of this paper is that in the field of labour relations, although autonomous communities do not have regulatory powers, they do have a wide range of action in the design and strategies of socio-labour policies and in their implementation. It is concluded that in Catalonia, the Statute of Autonomy of 2006 — which extensively recognises the rights linked to gender equality in the workplace — orders the creation of its own Catalan labour relations space where progress can be made in this direction through agreements and collective bargaining. Likewise, the approval of the Catalan Equality Law, although late, regulates a series of policies, objectives and instruments that allow for progress in greater gender equity in the field of labour relations.

The tension between the equality of citizens and the autonomy of regions continues to be a topic of debate in decentralised states. In this context, the clauses that allow the central government to interfere in jurisdictions that are not its own in order to achieve certain objectives (equal rights and duties, the essential level of benefits, or uniformity in living conditions) are still unclear elements that can disrupt the system of distribution of powers as a whole. This article analyses this problem in Spain, Italy and Germany, with a special focus on the confusion caused by Article 149.1.1 of the Spanish Constitution (CE in Spanish) in our system: both in relation to its overlap with other jurisdictions and its abuse. Therefore, this paper reviews the use of Article 149.1.1.1 CE, accompanied by the Constitutional Court’s interpretation of it and concludes with some guidelines for its current application.

The supposedly exclusive powers of the Spanish autonomous communities on housing are strongly conditioned by the concurrent powers of the State. The interpretation of these powers made by the Spanish Constitutional Court has prioritised the objective consideration of housing as a principle over the subjective consideration of housing as a right and its economic dimension over the social one. This paper highlights some paradoxes and perplexities caused by this approach, as well as the opportunity provided by the Right to Housing Act to solve them.

This paper summarises some of the main changes in Northern Irish society since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, both at the electoral level and in religious and national identities, as well as in preferences over constitutional future. The data show an increase in Catholic and more pro-Irish identities but also the rise of a social sector that is not aligned with the two main historical blocs. The literature has linked Irish identity and the Catholic religion to the cause of Irish reunification, so this may have been reflected in an increase in support for it. However, following trends in the analysis of independence in other territories, this article aims to analyse whether socio-economic or public policy-related factors also play a role today. To corroborate this hypothesis, logistic regression models are used to show the main explanatory variables in favour of this territorial option. The results show the pre-eminence of national and political identities, but instrumental factors also appear, such as the position on the Northern Ireland Protocol, especially in the case of the “non-aligned” sectors.

In recent years, mechanisms have been activated in order to carry out political reforms in the Autonomous Communities, due to the greater fragmentation that exists in regional parliaments and the presence of political parties that support institutional reforms, aimed at deepening democratic regeneration. The aim of this paper is to join the main reflections and knowledge about the different types of open-lists and free-lists systems, and to examine the legal framework of the regional legislators for their adoption. To that end, this paper examines the different kinds of electoral lists, their advantages, disadvantages, effects and consequences of their use; the constitutional and legal framework that could limit its inclusion in the reforms of the autonomic electoral systems; as well as the main proposals that have already been formulated to introduce the preferential vote in the Autonomous Communities. The conclusions of the study suggest the viability of the introduction of the open-lists and free-lists systems in the autonomic electoral systems, given the current legal framework.

Ten years after the establishment of the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) as an additional financing mechanism through which the State tried to ensure the financial viability of the autonomous communities, numerous criticisms continue to be raised regarding the damage caused to the principle of financial autonomy not only by the rigid fiscal and financial conditionality imposed on sub-central entities, but also by the strict supervision and control carried out by the State. This paper attempts to provide a critical analysis of the operation and consequences of this instrument to support the liquidity of the autonomous communities, assessing the results obtained and formulating a series of reflections that, with a prospective vision, help to resolve the pending problematic issues, with special reference to whether or not the FLA should survive, as well as the management of the enormous debt accumulated by the autonomous communities.

The paper deals with several current issues related to the transfer to the autonomous regions of the competences for the application of fully assigned taxes. It deals, in particular, with the problem of the regulatory powers of the autonomous regions in relation to tax procedures, following Ruling 65/2020 of the Constitutional Court, of 18 June 2020. Likewise, we analyse the implications that the introduction of the reference value as a taxable base for ISD and ITPAJD has on the distribution of delegated powers between the State and the autonomous regions, considering it necessary to reform Law 22/2009, particularly with regard to the revision. Finally, we refer to some of the recommendations contained in the reports of the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Finance on the exercise of delegated powers incorporated annually in the State Budget. These reports state very relevant differences in the means and way of acting of the different autonomous community administrations in the application of the assigned taxes, considering it necessary to move towards an integrated tax administration.

The transformation of societies and economies towards climate neutrality is a highly complex multi-sectoral and multi-level challenge. This paper examines the multi-level dimension of climate policy with particular reference to the European legal framework and the example of Germany. It analyses how regional and local governments are engaged and whether, in this regard, the existing arrangements of multi-level climate governance can be considered adequate and effective. In the light of the basic principles of federalism theory and in view of the – failed – German multi-level approaches to energy transition it is concluded, in particular, that federal climate governance must build not only on European and national objectives but also on regional and local climate targets and policy planning schemes as a means of both ensuring sufficient transformation efforts and preserving as much autonomy as possible for regional and local communities.

Climate change is a challenge for society and the law. Whereas Austrian administrative law is slowly but increasingly establishing regulatory steps for both the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, constitutional law in Austria seems to be silent on this subject. Since Austria is a federal state, the question arises whether the Land (the state) level or the federal level of government is competent to regulate climate change issues. In this paper, this question shall be answered. For that purpose, the Austrian federal system, especially the Bundesstaat (the federal state), and the distribution of competences will be explained. Then, the main challenges climate change poses for the federal system will be discussed. Special attention will be paid to the Austrian Climate Protection Act and its deficiencies.

This contribution addresses the federal architecture of Belgium to understand its core functioning elements with regard to the country’s climate change governance. For several historic, cultural and political reasons, Belgium bears a heavily decentralised institutional and organisational setup, which, however, provides for several drawbacks when addressing face-offs and cross-cutting policy issues such as climate change. The compartmentalised allocation of powers and the intergovernmental conflicts arising as a result of diverging political stances at different levels of government towards climate action have led to several policy failures. This paper will thus first outline the complex governance structure of the Belgian federal state. While doing so, it will also underscore key formal and informal features underpinning policymaking in Belgium, which are of utmost relevance for climate policy. Next, it will chart such governance structure within the specific context of climate action in Belgium. Last, it will display some examples of climate policy failures to unfold how different tenets of the Belgian system interplay with climate change planning and policy implementation. Notably, Belgium displays an example of how decentralisation could be put at odds with the effective development and implementation of climate policy.

This paper analyzes the forms of legitimation of Canadian federalism in relation to the Rawlsian notion of overlapping consensus as applied to federalism by Wayne Norman. From the works of Dimitrios Karmis and Alain-G. Gagnon, the paper presents three types of federalism: universalist, communitarian and utilitarian, which are discussed in relation to the constitutional situation after the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982 and the Trudeau model. These three approaches to federalism are subsequently applied to the case study of immigration policies and their decentralization. Through the example of these policies the article shows that, even if from a constitutional point of view there is a lack of overlapping consensus on the principles of the federation, certain aspects of the reforms that were part of the failed Meech Lake (1988) and Charlottetown (1992) agreements have been rescued out of the Constitution. This allows for the conclusion that the Canadian federation’s modus vivendi allows for its institutional functioning but is far from satisfying the ideal overlapping consensus, which could only emerge out from a multinational pact.

This paper compares a federal country, Brazil, and a centralist one, Colombia, both of which, at a given point in time, enacted a recentralization of resources despite the differences in their economies. The hypothesis is that similarities in expenditure autonomy of their intermediate-level governments are a consequence of changes in that direction enacted with the new Constitutions, dating back from 1991 in Colombia and from 1988 in Brazil. To test such hypothesis the paper first shows the differences in economic conditions during the 1990s in both countries after the Constitutional changes; subsequently, it shows how the previous developments within the realm of intergovernmental relations are very similar from the political point of view, allowing to understand how the loss of expenditure autonomy of intermediate-level governments during the 1990s took place. Finally, it concludes that the different economic realities of both national economies as well as those of intermediate-level governments, were subordinated to political priorities deriving from long-term processes. Debt allowed for the recentralization in both countries because of the use it was subject to.

The paper reflects on the general pattern for the allocation of shared competences in the Spanish Constitution: the general institutions of the state set the basic rules and framework and then the Autonomous Communities develop them and are responsible for their effective application. First, the paper considers from a legal and a political perspective the main effects and defects of that pattern as interpreted and applied by the Constitutional Court’s case-law. Second, it reviews some of the proposals advanced in scholarship to correct the above mentioned defects, whether or not through a constitutional amendment process. It argues that this pattern of competence allocation attracts little support from political actors other than the state institutions, and that, consequently, it is responsible for the countless complaints filed with the Constitutional Court under the legal reason of conflict of powers. The further point being made is that unless the notion of ‘basic rules’ is amended or even suppressed, whether or not the entire ‘state of autonomies’ may be reshaped through a constitutional amendment process, its effective functioning will hardly change at all.

The paper provides a key to understanding the regulatory and legal affairs of the Italian regionalism with particular reference to the constitutional reform of 2001 and the project of constitutional reform under consideration in Parliament in 2015. The essay uses the figure of the pendulum that is the instrument that can position between two extremes: local autonomy and centralized state. Italian regionalism in recent years has positioned itself, just like a pendulum, on several points, but always with swings that have given very few elements of stability to the system. Especially the paper examines the evolution of regional autonomy both from the formal point of view (the Constitution) and substantive (the constitutional jurisprudence and institutional application). Today the Italian regions seem to undergo a double process of erosion of skills: on the one hand the increasing role of the European Union and the budgetary constraints and the resulting strengthening of the powers of the State, the other the strengthening of metropolitan cities. We can say that after a short period of reforms that have strengthened the regional autonomy policy, over the past 5 years, the path is completely opposite and, if it is approved the constitutional reform, the Italian regions will lose much of their autonomy. The paper aims to highlight some structural factors that have weakened the Italian regionalism which, for example, the small size and population of the local authorities. In addition, after the constitutional reform of 2001 only a few regions have tried to adopt laws in the areas of new jurisdiction, while many regions have continued to plan its activities primarily as administrative activity and have given up their role as legislators.

The European Union provides in the article 2 TEU the shared values of the Union itself and its member states, the observance of which are required to obtain the membership in the Union and also to remain in that status. These values have a structural nature and their effects are projected on the competences, the European law and the local sphere of the states as well. From this premise, the working hypothesis of this paper is to determine how these values can compromise the performance of the state in the political and legal treatment of a process of internal territorial secession and in which extent the foundational values (especially those of democracy, legality and respect for the rights of minorities) can influence this behaviour. Specifically this paper analyses, according to the meaning and effects that should be given to the previously mentioned values, if their integrity is respected when a State, in this case the Spanish State, systematically denies the possibility of doing a consultative referendum or a plebiscite on the political future of Catalonia against the democratic will expressed by majority and repeatedly, enshrining this negative only in a restrictive and formalistic reading of the internal legality. The article also compares this situation with other international scenarios and assesses the political and legal consequences that could be from the European perspective considering the efforts of communityinstitutions in recent years to establish early warning mechanisms and precursors to prevent threats to the integrity of founding values.

This article is about the evaluation of educational policies for non-sexist education in Catalonia from the Spanish democratic transition on. It starts by analysing the legal framework of education, both in Spain and Catalonia. Many different laws have been approved during these years. After this first part, we analyse the action of the Conselleria d’Educació, the education authority in Catalonia. What did this institution do about non-sexist education? The most important action was an Educational Innovation Programme from 2005 to 2010, and then during the last three years. We also mention a few actions from other institutions or schools. However, we must conclude that no institutional policy has consistently been developed. Finally, we provide some notes about non-sexist research in schools, teachers’ training, and books and papers about what is referred to as “coeducation” in Spain. A big change has to be made in the years ahead in order to achieve a non-sexist education in Catalonia.

This paper reviews the Constitutional Court’s case law denying the governments of autonomous communities the right to challenge the constitutionality of legislative acts endorsed by the respective autonomic legislature. It also focuses on how to legally “rescue” Article 32.3 of the Act governing the Constitutional Court (LOTC in Spanish), which would have allowed territorial governments to file before the Constitutional Court these “intra-autonomic” appeals. This work also addresses and verifies that, as a matter of fact, Article 32.3 of the LOTC was actually endorsed by the Parliament as part of the full text of this Organic Act, but, interestingly, was never officially published in the Official State Gazette (BOE in Spanish). It also reviews the stance adopted by the most recent Constitutional Court’s case law on whether Article 32.3 of the LOTC is applicable to decide the issue, as well as the grounds of such a decision, together with the development and formulation of proposals on how to properly address (or, where applicable, re-address) and legally tackle this important constitutional problem, both in terms of the model of territorial organisation and of the Spanish model of constitutional justice, not to mention the system of sources of law.

This article presents, firstly, all the gender mainstreaming and subject-specific obligations that the Catalan Equality Act (Law 17/2015) establishes for the municipal sphere. Secondly, it goes on to explain what the city councils are actually implementing and what they are not. Thirdly, the causes of compliance and non-compliance are analysed. Finally, the paper proposes strategies for the implementation of gender policies at the municipal level. This article considers that the approval of the Catalan Equality Act has had a positive impact on the implementation of local gender policies, although there are aspects that still need to be worked on to make it easier for councils to truly comply with the provisions of the law.

This article examines the presence of women in Catalan political institutions from 1980 until now. First, this report reviews the measures that have been adopted over the years to reduce male over-representation. Second, it presents women’s political representation in Catalonia, with a special emphasis on the Parliament, the Government, and local authorities. It also analyses the factors that account for this gender gap. Third, it exposes the measures that have been implemented in other places — such as Spain’s autonomous communities, European countries, or Latin American countries — to boost women’s representation. Finally, this paper suggests measures that can be implemented to improve or maintain the representation of women in Catalan institutions. This study focuses on Catalonia since it allows the analysis of the presence of women in sub-state institutions.

This paper aims to analyse the constitutional and legal limits which have been established with regards to budgetary stability and financial sustainability and their possible application to the Spanish autonomous communities. The starting point is the allocation of financial autonomy that is enshrined in Article 156 (Spanish Constitution), but we also examine aspects of other provisions that may demarcate this financial autonomy in some way. In particular,Article 135 (Spanish Constitution), which in its amendment put asevere limitation on public spending, articulated through the concept of a permitted public deficit, and which also put in place the mechanisms to achieve this. What is referred to here are public spending rules, debt ceilings, and the limitation of using debt as a source of financing government spending. Thus, by quantitative spending control, there is a direct impact on one of the public resources provided for in Article 157 (Spanish Constitution), inwhich there is only one constitutional provision which had a direct impact: Article 157.3. In our paper we study Law 2/2012 on budgetary stability and financial sustainability whose purpose is implicit in its title; under Article 135 (Spanish Constitution), this is the rule applicable in this matter, in particular regarding the debt of the autonomous communities.

This paper explores the possibility for the provisions of the Government ofCatalonia to contribute to a closer and more effective practice of justice,despite the limitations of competence derived from the constitutional andstatutory frameworks. The paper begins with an approach to the concept oflocal justice and its models, and relates them to the positive concept of justiceefficiency and corresponding measuring criteria introduced by EU. Then followsthe description of the German Rechtspfleger, an institution almost completelyunheard-of in our country, which settled 80% of the procedures inthe German courts of first instance and which has been the key for efficiencypromotion in the German courts. The paper closes with two questions:a) to what extent would such an officer fit our justice administration?, andb) which role should Catalonia play in the development of the new statutoryframework after the passing of Sentence no. 31/2010, June 28, by theConstitutional Court, so as to achieve a more efficient practice of justice?

This paper analyses the powers of the Catalan Government to regulate and call popular consultations. Firstly, theoretical, historical and comparative arguments are given to explain why the Constitutional Court should make a broad interpretation of the Constitution and let the the Autonomous Communities move forward to a more participatory democracy. A doctrine of concurrent powers between the central government and the Catalan Government is outlined with regards to the regulation of referendary consultations (reserving their authorisation for the State) and the exclusive power of the Catalan Government to regulate and call non-referendary consultations. Thus, Catalan Law 4/2010 of “Consultes Populars per via de Referèndum” is defended as being constitutional. The authorisation of referendums by the central government is also discussed. It is highlighted the paradoxical situation of there being no material limits to the reform of the Spanish Constitution according to the Constitutional Court itself (even regarding the boundaries of the State or the recognition of a hypothetical right of secession) and the impossibility of consulting the people about questions requiring constitutional reform. Finally, the paper points out that the Article 87.2 of the Constitution is the key to legitimate the juridical power of the Catalan governement to conduct a popular consultation regarding a new fiscal pact or sovereignty.

The paper analyzes the doctrine as in the STC 31/2010 as regards immigrationautonomous powers as drawn from the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Itoverly rejects the approach taken by the Constitutional Court in the matteras long as it maintains the exclusive jurisdiction of the State in immigrationaffaires while at the same time considering the statutory recognition of regionalpowers relative to immigration congruous with the Constitution. TheCourt considered that, despite the formal denomination, such public activitiesare not framed within immigration affaires but under other matters of competence.Against this position, the paper defends the availability of a statutoryjurisdiction in immigration affairs as from the evolution of the Stateexclusive jurisdiction contained in the Constitution, parallel to that occurredin other areas such as the administration of justice or international affaires.The paper highlights that, in any case, the Court has not limited the scopeof statutory powers but rather emphasizes that this is a conflict deriving fromopposing views as regards de denomination of the matter under discussionwhich, however minor, has brought about political upsetting.

To what extent do Italian courts adapt the national legal instruments (principles,rules, techniques, legal concepts) regarding state structure to therequirements of EU law? This paper aims to give an answer to this questionby providing an overview of the most emblematic cases of “re-adaptations”operated by the Italian courts in order to ensure the respect of the structuralprinciples of EU law. This contribution is structured as follows: first, Iwill explain the reasons why research like this is “difficult”, while secondlyI will move to the analysis of the of some legal instruments (principle ofcompetence, substitutive power, “cedevolezza”). Some final remarks willbe presented at the end of the paper. Generally speaking, my main idea isthat EU law has had a certain impact on the relationship between Stateand Regions in Italy, especially looking at the seasons of the principle ofcompetence, that has been conceived more and more as referring to theidea of “legislative preference” rather than as to the existence of a “legislativereserved domain”.

article 119 of the Italian Constitution. Currently, this reform is undergoingan intricate process of implementation mainly assigned to a series of legislativedecrees issued by the Italian Government. The aim of this paper is toanalyze the reform of the Italian financial system, approaching the subjectmatter both from the perspective of the sources of law, and from the substantialcontent of the legal provisions. Analysis will highlight problems arisingThis paper focuses of the so-called “fiscal federalism” reform that was introduced in Italy with the “legge delega” No. 42 of 2009 in order to implement from the implementation process, with a focus on the main differences between Regions with ordinary statute, on the one hand, and Regions with special status/autonomous Provinces, on the other hand. The outcome will be a highly asymmetrical fiscal structure rooted in an extremely differentiated legal system.

This paper illustrates that the new Bolivian Constitution passed in January 2009 entails a territorial innovation, where by Bolivia has not only quit being a unitary state, but at the same time, the new model neither coincides with the federal nor with so called regional states. The reason for this is, that the municipal level has been structurally equated with the empowered intermediate level, and both subnational tiers have simultaneously been equated to the national level. To analyze this new construction two theoretical tools are deployed. The first tool is designed to expose the weakness of the traditional unitary vs. federal divide and to subsequently substitute it. The second one offers a new approach for classifying non-unitary options by introducing a new technic, which focuses on the constitutional weight of territorial levels. After revising the key articles of the new constitution, the new classification is tested against paradigmatic international cases. In the last part of the paper an outline of those elements that could counteract the achieved territorial innovation is given.

The aim of this paper is to reflect upon the consequences of the devolutionprocess initiated by the Labour government in 1997. The paper considers thedevelopment of Scottish devolution since its inception up to the present day.In so doing, it establishes a distinction between the so-called unionist viewand the secessionist approach. It offers a detailed study of current plans fora referendum on secession, as planned by the Scottish National Party (SNP),while considering its main objectives and challenges. It also includes a thoroughoverview of the main recommendations of the Calman Commission(2009) set up by the Government of Scotland and the Government of theUnited Kingdom in order to evaluate ten years of devolution. The paperconcludes by offering some final reflections on the consequences of devolutionfor Scottish and British identity alike.

This paper aims to examine the distribution of powers between the stateand the autonomous communities in regard to renewable energy. Based onthe delimitation of powers under state law, the first part of the paper describesthe distribution of responsibilities in reference to special regime productionof electrical energy. The second part examines a number of practicalassumptions that provide insight into some current problems. The first refersto the right of access of special regime producers to distribution networksand, in particular, how some autonomic procedures can affect the exerciseof said right from state competition. The paper also analyzes the case ofcertain autonomic awarding of wind power using mechanisms of dubiouscompatibility with the order of distribution of powers and some of the substantiveprinciples that inform existing regulation of the energy sector. Followingalong with a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court (STC 136/2009),we also examine the distribution of jurisdictional distribution on matters ofsubsidies for renewable energy. Finally, we address two controversial issues:the inspection of photovoltaic plants by the National Energy Commission,and the creation of the Registry for the Pre-assignment of Remuneration.

The new Catalan Statute of Autonomy contains a novelty: detailed regulationsfor local government. These regulations require the appropriate legislativeimplementation. Within this implementation of the Statute the futureact regulating Catalan local authorities is of central importance. The ultimateaim of this paper is to analyse the problems raised by describing this act asa law for basic implementation of the Statute. Such laws for basic implementationof the Statute are a special type of law which exist in some autonomousstructures, among them that of Catalonia, and now enjoy explicit statutoryrecognition. Despite having existed for so many years and being of suchimportance, it is a type of law which lacks sufficient categorical definition.The first part of the paper should be seen as a contribution to remedyingthis gap. The main issues raised by this special type of autonomous law areexamined in detail: its name, nature, concept, material component (reservedareas), formal features (joint initiative and reinforced quorum), relationshipwith other laws and the statutory limits surrounding it.

This paper analyses the problems of constitutionality involved in the BasqueReferendum Act through which the government led by Lehendakari Ibarretxeattempted to implement the Basque people’s so-called “right to decide”. Ittook advantage of the occasion provided by the publication of the SpanishConstitutional Court Ruling 103/2008, of 11th September 2008, whereby thesaid act was declared to be contrary to the Constitution. The author sets outto provide grounds for the correctness of the positions taken by the judgeon its constitutionality while at the same time disagreeing with some of thearguments used in the Ruling. Finally, the paper discusses the viability withinour constitutional order of incorporating the figure of the referendum inthe statutes of autonomy. It is considered that the Constitution allows suchincorporation, limited by the concept of referendum established by the constituent.It attempts, at the same time, to justify the cautionary measureswith which a similar figure might reasonably be incorporated.

This paper provides a descriptive and normative analysis of the federalization process in Spain. Initial attention is paid to the considerable weight of history and historical interpretations on the shaping of attitudes, ideas and perceptions concerning the territorial unity and plurality of Spain. The followingsection analyses the effects of the diversity of the Spanish languages, the identity policies and the dual identities as a cultural and social basis for the federal logic in Spain. Then there is discussion of the options of confederal or federal structuring of the Spanish “State of Autonomies” in the 21st. This paper provides a descriptive and normative analysis of the federalization process in Spain. Initial attention is paid to the considerable weight of his century. The conclusions emphasize the convenience of in-depth examination of de facto federalization, as an evolution arising from the regional logic.The aim would be to continue, in the reality of matters, the path of accommodation and integration of the internal plurality of Spain and consolidation of a shared political project in federal terms.

This article describes the historical, political and ontological specificity of one of the most ancient de jure indigenous autonomies on the planet: the comarca of Gunayala (formerly San Blas) in Panama. Based on data obtained from ethnographic research carried out over a long period of time (2000-2019), the paper addresses eight main issues that frame negotiations on Guna autonomy: territorial defense, tourism, major investment projects, the media, intercultural bilingual education, intellectual property of traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, public security and the development of agriculture. The centrality of these issues in the political negotiation processes with the Panamanian state and transnational actors should not, however, be understood as an adaptation to the world of the Wagas (non-indigenous). As shown in the last part of the article, in the construction and conception of Guna autonomy there are elements of different ontological orders that confer a great internal dynamism to the comarca and which should not be ignored.

Since the devolution process in the United Kingdom began in 1997, the funding system for devolved institutions has been discussed constantly by academics and in the media, particularly in Scotland. Currently, transfers are regulated under the recently amended Barnett formula, which indexes Block Grant devolutions to English public expenditures and is often considered insufficient to establish a desirable incentive scheme for decentralised institutions. Because of Brexit and its consequences for Britain’s devolution process, tackling this issue has become an urgent issue. The Basque Economic Agreement with Spain, characterised by high levels of tax autonomy and strict fiscal co-responsibility, could conceivably inspire a reconfigured financial relationship between Scotland and Westminster. This paper simulates the mechanical impact of the application of the principles of the Basque Economic Agreement to the Scottish case for devolved government income. Even if it is likely to provide Scotland with a lower expenditure capacity (ceteris paribus), such a scheme could increase fiscal efficiency while also safeguarding self-government and providing the political stability that the United Kingdom needs, given the current weakness of the union due to a challenging socio-economic and political context.

The article aims to present in detail a recent and peculiar Italian case concerning the approval of the law of the Valle d’Aosta region n. 11, December, 2020, with which that region tried to bypass the State powers to manage the pandemic caused by Covid-19 and provide its citizens with alternative regulations. In particular, in addition to the contents of the regional law and the context in which it was inserted, this paper aims to analyse the reaction of the Constitutional Court to the State recourse to Law 11/2020. In addition to causing the first precautionary suspension of a regional law in the history of the Republic, the contents of this recent decision of the Constitutional Court have been recognised as transcendent by the doctrine, and extend far beyond the specific case, to serve even as a field of study and inquiry for other regional systems.

After the 2017 pro-independence referendum took place in Catalonia, many municipalities changed the names of the streets to commemorate the event. In order to do so, in some cases the names related to the central state were removed, such as those related to the constitution or the king. By performing a frame analysis, this article explores how the majority nationalist parties, which identify themselves with the state, assessed this initiative made by the pro-independence local authorities. The paper thus offers new evidence to the existing literature on majority nationalism, a subject poorly studied in comparison with the total amount of research devoted to peripheral nationalism. On the basis of street naming as a nation-building tool, two are the main empirical contributions: firstly, the representatives of majority nationalism defended the symbols linked to the state as neutral and representative of the whole citizenry, while those of the minority group were framed as partisan and deeply divisive. On the other hand, we stress the importance of the democratic transition and the 1978 constitution as relevant rhetoric resources of the national narrative in contemporary Spain.

Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson and Anthony Smith have had a significant influence in debates and theoretical discussions concerning the understanding of nations and nationalism. However, one should not accept such classic theories ipso facto without questioning their theoretical assumptions. Hence, we find that one way to better understand the way these theories are still relevant (or not) for the understanding of nations and na-tionalism is to confront their explanatory potential with a specific case. This is precisely the main objective, and therefore contribution, of this paper. We thus focus on a “problematic” or “abnormal” case relative to a more general understanding of what a nation and nationalism ought to be. We look at the Canadian province of Quebec, a minority nation that possesses its own independent institutional and societal culture, while evolving within a more encom-passing sovereign state — the Canadian federation. Our goal is less to provide an exhaustive account of socio-historical settings than to use Gellner, Anderson and Smith’s theories to provide a fair interpretation of the way Quebec has evolved as a minority nation within the Canadian federation. To our knowledge, no other study has applied a similar framework — these theories of nationalism and their testing — to the Quebec case.

This article draws the main lines of development of the territoriality of the Polish state, taking into account the divergent dynamics of its regional evolution. Building on a historical account, it describes how the decentralization process unfolded, leading to the reform in 1998/1999, which administratively decentralized the state without, however, changing its unitary nature. By analysing the complexity and diversity of the EU’s cohesion policy, the paper also addresses questions that are central to theoretical arguments about EU influence on the divergence of regions. It concludes that even if the EU cohesion policy can be seen as a success in Poland, the amount of funding was not sufficient to reduce the differences between the Polish voivodships, which have been growing in recent decades. Paradoxically, the successful use of EU funding did not prevent the massive electoral wins of an EU-sceptic party in the poorer eastern regions, which were supported by a special EU fund.

This paper focuses on the potential reconfiguration of constituent power in the context of multinational States. It takes the view that sub-state claims pose relevant challenges to the traditional vision of constituent power as a unitary and monolithic essence. This seems all the more topical in Spain, where the Spanish Constitutional Court adheres to a unitary conception of constituent power. By contrast, our research has looked at whether and to what extent it is possible to accept that such a unitary vision of constituent power may be challenged with the emergence of new social forces calling into question the ultimate allocation of competence. The so-called sovereignty process in Catalonia invites constitutional scholars to engage in this debate, particularly in the light of the last unilateral referendum on independence from Spain that took place on 1st October 2017. Whereas the referendum has often been framed within the so-called theory of the right to decide, we ask whether it is possible to understand it instead as an expression of an emerging constituent power.

The trend to centralise the competences in the Spanish State does not escape the field of environment nor the environmental assessment. Ensuring market unity, security and other legal arguments have served as an excuse to enact legislation towards harmonization of regulation. Hence the enactment of laws of basic character with a detail of treasury of a regulation that leave little room for maneuver to the CCAA unless they decide to enact additional protective regulation. In practice, this entails a reduction in regional powers, an involution of political autonomy and in the decentralization of the Spanish State. The current basic state law 21/2013, of December 9, environmental assessment has led the involution. In this paper we analyse the consequences of this legislation in the autonomous powers on theenvironmental impact assessment of projects. For this we have studied the basic rule itself and the regional EIA regulations, focusing in those new aspects of the regional legislation regarding basic legislation. Finally, in conclusion, recommendations and proposals in relation to the experimental question are provided.

This article examines the recent reforms of the Consultative Councils in Spain. Formally, it is divided into two parts. Firstly, this paper examines the recent abolition of the Consultative Councils in Madrid and Extremadura, and the legal reforms that have affected the Consultative Council in Galicia and the Council for Statutory Guarantees of Catalunya. On this basis, the second part of the article analyzes the legal and political arguments put forward to defend these new regulatory frameworks. To do so, it reviews the constitutional limits and some political and academic debates about the decentralization process of the consultative function in the State of Autonomies. This article concludes with a critical review of the recommendations of the Commission for the Reform of Public Administration.

Fluent and proper relations of intergovernmental cooperation between the different subjects that compound a complex state is an essential part for their successful articulation. The norm is the backbone of these relationships, but the political will of the parties is the determining factor in their success. This does not mean, however, that the various territorial authorities can escape from the requirements deriving from the constitutional principles. Thus, the role of doctrine should be limited to ensure the technical improvement of those specific collaboration tools they need so as to be truly effective, while complying at the same time with such constitutional requirements. In this paper I present different reform proposals for the Presidents' Conference, the involvement of regional parliaments in holding inter-territorial agreements and the conflict concerning the involvement of vertical agreements. Keywords: collaboration; cooperation; autonomous regions; relationships; agreements; Presidents Conference; reforms.

The right to national self-determination has triggered a regular confrontation between the state government and the national governments in the periphery of Spain. This paper examines the theoretical foundations of that right as associated to the democratic, liberal and nationalist principles. Then I apply the notion of self-determination to the nations within a democratic state such as Spain, and propose a new alternative paradigm that may supersede the mainstream paradigm today.

Since the entry into force of the new Constitution (January 2009), Bolivia has experienced important political and institutional transformations, marked by the spotlight of indigenous peoples after decades of strong mobilizations. In the heart of these transformations, the proclamation of Bolivia as a “Plurinational State” and the extensive recognition of indigenous peoples’ collective rights feature prominently. Among these rights, the right to self-determination stands out, opening up the door to the establishment of indigenous autonomy systems. However, even when the Bolivian Constitution is the most advanced of Latin America in the field of the recognition of indigenous peoples’ collective rights, its implementation is facing many challenges. This situation creates a significant gap between the formal model of Plurinational State and the Plurinational State in practice, as it is attested by the existence of multiple burocratic hurdles posed to the indigenous autonomies prior to its full establishment. The long list of administrative requirements illustrate the lack of political will of the State, despite the fact that on 6 December 2009, 11 municipalites started the process of “conversion” to the autonomy. In this context, the present paper gives an account of the distance between the model and its implementation through an analysis of the system of indigenous autonomies, which draws on the case study of the Charagua Iyambae Guarani Autonomy and its new governance system.

This contribution focuses in defining the constitutional framing for fulfilling a possible will of the people of Catalonia in order to constitute a new and independent state. The paper starts from the relevance of current constitutional framework, the Spanish Constitution, and acknowledges the impossibility of channelling secession through this framework. The reason of this is because secession implies the emergency of a primary political subject, ignored by the current constitutional structure and addressing to exercise framing (constituent) power. Therefore amending power is not of relevance here. Nevertheless, it should be made a distinction between the expression of this framing will, which can be accommodated to current constitutional framework, and its fulfilment, which is clearly beyond. However, the framing process of emergent community should be respectful with the pre-existent community, within a supraconstitutional framework built by both actors implied, and based on democratic principle and rule of law, conceived in a substantial sense.

The goal of this paper is twofold. Firstly we shall examine the languages policies in those European countries which have become independent states since the fall of the Berlin Wall and within which more than one language is widely spoken (linguistically heterogeneous state). In this sense, we have confirmed that in most countries, official monolingualism has failed and that, both for external and internal reasons, these countries have ended up adopting linguistic policies far more pluralist. Secondly, and partly drawing from this empirical basis, we argue that official monolingualism should be discarded as an appropriate language policy for a hypothetical Catalan independent state. All recent surveys show that Catalan population would largely support a language policy in which both Catalan and Spanish languages would share an official status in a hypothetically independent Catalonia. Data from these surveys are consistent with those of previous surveys that asked citizens about the degree of agreement regarding the currently in-force official bilingualism.

This paper explores the inner theoretical relationship between republicanism and federalism in the political thought of James Madison. In fact federalism is conceived from his point of view as a cultural and institutional device to build a true democratic government in a modern big country as the United States of America. This “happy combination” of republicanism and federalism, goes hand by hand with a design of the Union, not as a “consolidated” and centralized one, as Hamilton defended; but as quite distinctive system “partly national, partly federal”, where the states’ rights were protected in their substantive self-government and in their participation with free own voice in the general shared-government of the Union. Moreover, the political and theoretical differences between Madison and Hamilton, were notorious not only respecting the whole conception of the American State, but also reach decisively another field: what kind of Nation “America” was to be. This principled and deep differences about the nature of the American democracy (based in the “vigor of government” or in the principles of republican revolution), the model of American federalism (consolidated and eroding the state’s powers or decentralized based on “dividing sovereignty”) and the nature of the American Nation (urban and industrialist “Great commercial society” or rural and commercial republic of the republics), gave birth to the creation of the Republican Party (with Thomas Jefferson) –The Democratic Party after Jackson– and the first American party system. consolidation.

This paper analyses the problems derived from the metropolitan cities entities in Italy and the simultaneous reform of the provinces. These two issues are part of a broader and current Italian political debate related to targets for reduction of public spending and have to do with the achievement of a new order of local government different from that established in the Title V of the Italian Constitution after its 2001 reform. After an examination of previous attempts to regulate metropolitan cities entities, the article examines the aspects contained in decree law on spending review (d.l. n. 95/2012). In this way, the article aims to highlight both the difficulties and incoherencies of the identification of administrative functions and of the general structure to be assigned to the new level of government (the metropolitan city), provided in the Italian Constitution in 2001 but not yet established. Consequently, the article considers the effects that this new model has upon the other and already existing levels of government (such as municipalities, as provinces and as regions).

This paper analyses the problems derived from the metropolitan cities entities in Italy and the simultaneous reform of the provinces. These two issues are part of a broader and current Italian political debate related to targets for reduction of public spending and have to do with the achievement of a new order of local government different from that established in the Title V of the Italian Constitution after its 2001 reform. After an examination of previous attempts to regulate metropolitan cities entities, the article examines the aspects contained in decree law on spending review (d.l. n. 95/2012). In this way, the article aims to highlight both the difficulties and incoherencies of the identification of administrative functions and of the general structure to be assigned to the new level of government (the metropolitan city), provided in the Italian Constitution in 2001 but not yet established. Consequently, the article considers the effects that this new model has upon the other and already existing levels of government (such as municipalities, as provinces and as regions).

The starting point of this paper is the restrictive approach of the Constitutional Tribunal‘s sentence number 31/2010, regarding the regulatory powers of the autonomous communities in the area of immigration. The idea is that to tackle the block imposed by the sentence on the development of this jurisdiction, it is necessary to compare with other experiences. This should broaden the debate and allow greater involvement by the autonomous communities in the regulation of affairs that affect the social integration of thepeople who live in them. With regard to the Italian case, the text discusses the evolution of the conflict on immigration powers between central government and the regions before and after the constitutional reform of 2001, when a thorough reform was carried out of the powers contained in Title V. Specifically, we analyse a conflict that has been especially intense in terms of the possibilities of regional legislation in shaping the content of the rights of immigrants, sometimes extending the contents or the intended recipients contemplated in central government regulations, and other times restricting possible actions. The text seeks to highlight how the distribution of powers in immigration, both in the Spanish and the Italian cases, is determined by the way we understand the nature of migration and the framework of coexistence one seeks to build; from a legal perspective, this distribution comes from the possession and exercise of rights enshrined in the constitution.