Spanish Decentralization in Times of Crisis: An Interregional Comparison of the Effects of the Great Recession on the State of Autonomies

The 2008 crisis has had serious political consequences on the process of devolution in Spain. The rise of public deficit and debt drove the Spanish cabinet to adopt a series of austerity measures. Such decisions have considerably re-centralized the process of territorial decision-making. This paper aims to adopt the hypothesis of convergence among autonomies by comparing the different secondary effects exerted by the crisis on the autonomous communities between 2010 and 2014. Four indicators were used to depict Spanish decentralization in times of crisis: the profile of intergovernmental conflicts, the discourse of regional elites, the legitimacy of the current model of territorial organization, and the evolution of nationalist feelings of belonging. We conclude that the State of Autonomies will survive, but that it faces considerable internal tensions.