Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each feature by whether it supports calling Spain FEDERAL or argues against it.
Groups: Supports federal · Argues against
- The Senate functions poorly as a territorial chamber
- A constitutional court adjudicating between the levels
- Broad state framework powers used expansively
- Communities have no formal role in constitutional amendment
- The centre cannot unilaterally rewrite a Statute
Hints
- One column concerns entrenched powers; the other concerns what the centre retains.
- The role of the Senate is the weakest part of the federal case.
Show the answer
Supports federal: A constitutional court adjudicating between the levels, The centre cannot unilaterally rewrite a Statute
Argues against: The Senate functions poorly as a territorial chamber, Broad state framework powers used expansively, Communities have no formal role in constitutional amendment
Why
Both columns are substantial, which is why the dispute is real. The most honest summary is that Spain operates federally and does not describe itself that way, and that specialists disagreeing about it are disagreeing about how to weigh these two columns, not about the facts in them.
Practise The Autonomic State
The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Political Science I is free to start.
More questions on The Autonomic State
- Why does the Statute of Autonomy make Spain hard to classify as federal or unitary?
- The 1978 Constitution created the seventeen autonomous communities directly.
- Which are elements of the asymmetry in the Spanish territorial system?
- How many autonomous communities does Spain have?
- Complete the account of the autonomic state.
- Arrange the stages of the autonomic process in order.
- The asymmetry of the Spanish system was a design feature that made the 1978 settlement possible.
- Spain is described as federal in practical operation but not in constitutional self-description. What…