Spain
This article is part of the series: Politics of Spain
Constitution 1978 Constitution King Juan Carlos I Government President of the Government Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero Council of Ministers Cortes Generales Senate Congress of Deputies Leader of the Opposition Political parties Elections 1977 – 1979 – 1982 – 1986 – 1989 – 1993 – 1996 – 2000 – 2004 – 2008 Judiciary Constitutional Court General Council of the Judiciary Power Supreme Court Audiencia Nacional Regional High Courts Provincial Courts (Audiencia Provincial) People's Defender Autonomous communities Madrid (capital city) Regional governments Regional legislatures Provinces Comarcas Municipalities Human rights EU Politics Foreign relations
Other countries :commons:Atlas of Spain	Atlas   Template:Politics of Spain	view • Template talk:Politics of Spain	talk • [ edit]

Spain's fifty provinces (provincias) are grouped into seventeen autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas), in addition to two autonomous cities in Africa, Ceuta and Melilla.

Formation and powers

The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards; it recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed and the solidarity among them all (Article II of the Spanish Constitution)

Centralism, nationalism, and separatism played an important role in the Spanish transition. For fear that separatism would lead to instability and a dictatorial backlash, a compromise was struck among the moderate political parties taking part in the drafting of the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The aim was to appease separatist forces and so disarm the extreme right. A highly decentralized state was established, compared both with the previous Francoist regime and with most modern territorial arrangements in Western European nations.

The autonomous communities have wide legislative and executive autonomy, with their own parliaments and regional governments. The distribution of powers is different for every community, as laid out in the "autonomy statute" (estatuto de autonomía). There is a de facto distinction between "historic" communities (Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia) and the rest. The historic ones initially received more functions, including the ability of the regional presidents to choose the timing of the regional elections (as long as they happen at most 4 years apart). As another example, the Basque Country, Navarre and Catalonia have full-range police forces of their own: Ertzaintza in the Basque Country, Foral Police in Navarre and Mossos d'Esquadra in Catalonia. Other communities have a more limited force or none at all (like the Policía Autónoma Andaluza^[1] in Andalusia or the BESCAM in Madrid).

The Constitution recognizes in its Article 2 the right of "regions and nationalities" to self government. The initial intent was not that every part of Spain should become an autonomous community, but that only the so-called historic nationalities would be granted this right. However, while the Constitution was still being drafted, there was a popular outcry in Andalusia for its own right to autonomy, with over a million and a half people demonstrating in the streets of Andalusia on 4 December 1977. This led to the inclusion of two provisions in the finished constitution of 1978: Article 143, which established the possibility for all regions to become autonomous communities, even though they would initially have only limited powers (this was dubbed at the time café para todos, "coffee for everybody", by critics of the decentralization on one side, and supporters of the more asymmetric original scheme); and Article 151, which set instead the rules for creating autonomous communities with an immediate larger amount of powers.

The first regions to make use of the possibility of becoming autonomous communities were the historic nationalities, which had previously enjoyed autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic, until the Spanish Civil War had put an end to the experiment: the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia. Nevertheless, all of the other parts of Spain followed their lead.

A separate statute of autonomy for Andalusia had been drawn and submitted by Blas Infante [1], then approved by parliament in June 1936, to be voted in referendum in September 1936. However the start of the Civil War in July and the assassination of Infante by Franco's rebels in August of the same year put an end to the autonomist project for Andalusia.

In spite of this, Andalusia was never recognised as a "historic nationality" in the 1978 constitution. This caused a great deal of indignation at the time and fired the fuse of a popular campaign which would lead to a successful referendum vote on 28 February 1980 that required a supermajority. Andalusia would still have to wait two more years, after more political turmoil and broken promises, to join the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia on earning its right to a higher degree of autonomous government.^[2]

Since then, there has been a tendency for "slow-track" communities (those that accessed autonomy via article 143) to aspire to the range of functions of their elders (Andalusia, Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia). Even in communities without a strong nationalist or regionalist tradition, the local branches of national parties fight for more power and budgets. Current points of disagreement are tax collection and representation at institutions of the European Union.

List of the communities and provinces

Name Local name(s)	Capital	Provinces	Capital
Andalusia Sp. Andalucía	Seville (Government, Parliament and Ombudsman) Sp. Sevilla Granada (High Court of Justice)	Almería	Almería
		Cádiz	Cádiz
		Córdoba	Córdoba
		Granada	Granada
		Huelva	Huelva
		Jaén	Jaén
		Málaga	Málaga
		Seville Sp. Sevilla	Seville Sp. Sevilla
Aragon Sp. Aragón Ar.1Aragón Cat.1 Aragó	Zaragoza	Sp. Huesca Ar.1 Uesca Cat.1 Osca	Sp. Huesca Ar.1 Uesca Cat.1 Osca
		Sp. Teruel Ar.1 Tergüel Cat.1 Terol	Sp. Teruel Ar.1 Tergüel Cat.1 Terol
		Zaragoza Cat.1 Saragossa	Zaragoza Cat.1 Saragossa
Principality of Asturias: Sp. Principado de Asturias Ast. 1Principáu d'Asturies	Sp. Oviedo Ast.1 Uviéu	Sp. Asturias Ast.1 Asturies	Sp. Oviedo Ast.1 Uviéu
Balearic Islands Cat. Illes Balears Sp. Islas Baleares	Palma de Mallorca Cat. Palma (official)	Balearic Islands Cat. Illes Balears Sp. Islas Baleares	Palma de Mallorca Cat. Palma (official)
Basque Country Ba. Euskal Autonomi Erkidegoa Sp. Comunidad Autónoma Vasca	Ba. Vitoria-Gasteiz (official), Gasteiz (historic) Sp. Vitoria-Gasteiz (official), Vitoria (historic)	Ba. Araba Sp. Álava	Ba. Gasteiz Sp. Vitoria
		Ba. Gipuzkoa Sp. Guipúzcoa	Ba. Donostia Sp. San Sebastián
		Biscay Ba. Bizkaia Sp. Vizcaya	Ba. Bilbo Sp. Bilbao
Canary Islands Sp. Islas Canarias	Santa Cruz de Tenerife/ Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Santa Cruz de Tenerife
		Las Palmas	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Cantabria	Santander	Cantabria	Santander
Castile-La Mancha Sp. Castilla-La Mancha	Toledo (Regional Government and Parliament) Albacete (Superior Court of Justice and Ombudsman)	Albacete	Albacete
		Ciudad Real	Ciudad Real
		Cuenca	Cuenca
		Guadalajara	Guadalajara
		Toledo	Toledo
Castile and León Sp. Castilla y León	Valladolid (Regional Government and Parliament) Burgos (Superior Court of Justice) León (Ombudsman)	Ávila	Ávila
		Burgos	Burgos
		León	León
		Palencia	Palencia
		Salamanca	Salamanca
		Segovia	Segovia
		Soria	Soria
		Valladolid	Valladolid
		Zamora	Zamora
Catalonia Cat. Catalunya Sp. Cataluña	Barcelona	Barcelona	Barcelona
		Cat. Girona Sp. Gerona	Cat. Girona Sp. Gerona
		Cat. Lleida Sp. Lérida	Cat. Lleida Sp. Lérida
		Tarragona	Tarragona
Extremadura	Mérida	Badajoz	Badajoz
		Cáceres	Cáceres
Galicia Gl. Galicia, Galiza Sp. Galicia	Santiago de Compostela (Regional Government, Parliament and Ombudsman) A Coruña (High Court of Justice)	Gl. A Coruña Sp. La Coruña	Gl. A Coruña Sp. La Coruña
		Lugo	Lugo
		Gl. Ourense Sp. Orense	Gl. Ourense Sp. Orense
		Pontevedra	Pontevedra
La Rioja	Logroño	La Rioja	Logroño
Madrid	Madrid	Madrid	Madrid
Region of Murcia Sp. Región de Murcia	Murcia	Murcia	Murcia
Foral Community of Navarre Sp. Comunidad Foral de Navarra Ba. Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea	Pamplona Ba. Iruña	Navarre Sp. Navarra Ba. Nafarroa	Pamplona Ba. Iruña
Valencian Community Vl. Comunitat Valenciana Sp. Comunidad Valenciana	Vl. València Sp. Valencia	Vl. Alacant Sp. Alicante	Vl. Alacant Sp. Alicante
		Vl. Castelló Sp. Castellón	Vl. Castelló de la Plana Sp. Castellón de la Plana
		Vl. València Sp. Valencia	Vl. València Sp. Valencia

See also:

• List of Spanish autonomous communities by area
• List of Spanish autonomous communities by population

Language footnotes

¹ Not an official language but is protected and regulated, and spoken by a local minority.

Plazas de soberanía

There are five "places of sovereignty" (plazas de soberanía) near Morocco, under direct Spanish administration:

• Ceuta and Melilla have a status between ordinary cities (they can enact regulations to execute laws, with greater regulatory powers than normal city councils) and autonomous communities (these cities cannot enact "autonomous" laws).
• Islas Chafarinas,
• Peñón de Alhucemas,
• and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera

See also

• Flags of the autonomous communities of Spain
• Anthems of the autonomous communities of Spain
• Provinces of Spain
• Comarcas of Spain
• List of municipalities of Spain
• Catalan constitutions
• Nationalities in Spain

References

External links

• The Regions of Spain Information about Spain's Autonomous Communities
• Relations between tiers CityMayors feature
• Spanish autonomous communities (Rulers.org)
• Maps of the Autonomous Communities of Spain Maps of Spain's Autonomous Communities
• Maps of the Autonomous Communities of Spain in Chinese Maps of Spain's Autonomous Communities
• David Brighty. State and region: the Spanish experience.

•  • [ e] Administrative divisions of Spain
Autonomous communities Andalusia Aragon Asturias Balearic Islands Basque Country Canary Islands Cantabria Castile-La Mancha Castile and Len Catalonia Extremadura Galicia Madrid Murcia Navarre La Rioja Valencian Community Autonomous cities

•  • [ e] Provinces of Spain

A Corua lava Albacete Alicante Almera Asturias vila Badajoz Balearic Islands Barcelona Biscay Burgos Cceres Cdiz Cantabria Castelln Ceuta Ciudad Real Crdoba Cuenca Girona Granada Guadalajara Gipuzkoa Huelva Huesca Jan Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Len Lleida Lugo Madrid Mlaga Melilla Murcia Navarre Ourense Palencia Pontevedra La Rioja Salamanca Santa Cruz de Tenerife Segovia Seville Soria Tarragona Teruel Toledo Valencia Valladolid Zamora Zaragoza

•  • [ e] Types of country subdivision

Administrative division   Political division   Census division   Electoral division Contemporary Amt Arrondissement Bailiwick Bakhsh Baladiyah Banner Autonomous banner Barangay Bairro Barrio Bezirk / Regierungsbezirk Block Borough County borough Metropolitan borough Capital Federal capital Canton Census division Census geographic unit Census metropolitan area Census subdivision Circle Circuit City Autonomous city Independent city Co-Principality Colony Comarca Commonwealth Commune Comune Community Autonomous community Residential community Condominium Constituency County Administrative county Autonomous county Metropolitan county Council Croft Department Dependent territory Federal dependency District Autonomous district Capital district City district Federal district Metropolitan district Municipal district Division Dara Duchy Eldership Frazione Freguesia Governorate Hamlet Insular area Judeţ Local administrative unit Local government area Liwa Localit Municipality District municipality Regional municipality Regional county municipality Rural municipality Neighbourhood Oblast Okrug Ostān Parish Civil parish Periphery Prefecture Autonomous prefecture Principality Protectorate Province Autonomous province Quarter Regency Region Autonomous region Capital region Special administrative region Republic Autonomous republic Ranchera Reservation Indian reserve Shabiyah Shahr Shahrestān Shire State Subdistrict Subprefecture Suzerainty Taluka Tehsil Territory Autonomous territorial unit Capital territory Union territory National territory Town Townland Township Civil township Urban (urbanized) area Village Vingtaine Voivodeship Wilayah Ward Historical Agency Barony Burgh Cantref City-State Commote Free Imperial City Hundred Imperial Circle Imperial province March Pargana Presidency Residency Riding Rural district Sanitary district (rural urban) Urban district Viscounty Viscountcy Boldface indicates a type used by ten or more countries; loanwords in italics.

•  • [ e] First-level administrative divisions of Europe

Albania Andorra Armenia2 Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus2 Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France1 Georgia3 Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan1 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Republic of Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia1 San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey1 Ukraine United Kingdom 1 Has part of its territory outside Europe. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia.