Los municipios vascos, los fueros y la construcción del Estado liberal español

Abstract

This article analyses the process of institutional change in Bizkaia, Álava, and Gipuzkoa municipalities during the 19th century. In this century, the traditional municipal model characterised by heterogeneity and self-governance moved to a new system defined by uniformity and a loss of local autonomy. This transformation occurred in two stages. First, during the Absolutism’s terminal crisis (1814-1833), municipalities lost important self-governance capacities in favour of Provincial Councils, which expanded their ability to exercise control over local authorities. Then, in the Liberal State’s construction area, Basque fuero grantees were able to amend legal applications to local administrations so that the Basque Provincial Councils assumed control authority over municipalities that was reserved for the political leader elsewhere in Spain. That is how the so-called new fuero municipality arose, which was an adaptation of the liberal Spanish municipality to the singularity of the Basque provinces (fueros) that had very little to do with a traditional fuero municipality.