El sistema moderno parlamentario también se desarrolló en España durante los últimos 200 años. Esta historia parlamentaria manifiesta aspectos comunes con otros sistemas parlamentarios del occidente. Pero al mismo tiempo muestra algunas características distintivas en algunos momentos a raíz del éxito del antiparlamenarismo y consiguiente fracaso del sistema parlamentario

Sierra Alonso, María

idUS. Depósito de Investigación Universidad de Sevilla

Introduction to PoliticalRepresentation in SpanishParliamentary HistorySierra, MaríaUniv. de Sevilla. Fac. de Geografía e Hª. Dpto. de Hª Contemporánea.María de Padilla, s/n. 41004 Sevillamsierra@us.esBIBLID [ISBN: 978-84-8419-207-7 (2010); 99-103]Azken 200 urteotan Espainian ere sistema parlamentarioa garatu zen. Historia parlamentariohonek mendebaleko beste sistemekin parekatuz gero, joera komunak adierazten ditu. Baina bestal-de baditu bereizgarriak ere, batzuetan joera antiparlamentarioak gailendu zirelako eta horrez eraginzuen parlamentarismoaren porrota.Giltza-Hitzak: Espainia. Parlamentua. Historia. Liberala.El sistema moderno parlamentario también se desarrolló en España durante los ultimos 200años. Esta historia parlamentaria manifiesta aspectos comunes con otros sistemas parlamentariosdel occidente. Pero al mismo tiempo muestra algunas caracteristicas distintivas en algunos momen-tos a raiz del éxito del antiparlamenarismo y consiguiente fracaso del sistema parlamenario.Palabras Clave: España. Parlamento. Historia. Liberal.Le système moderne parlementaire s’est également développé en Espagne durant les 2 sièclesderniers. Cette histoire parlementaire présente des aspects communs à d’autres systèmes parle-mentaires de l’Occident. Mais en même temps, elle montre des caractéristiques différentes à cer-tains moments en raison du succès de l’antiparlementarisme et de l’échec découlant du systèmeparlementaire.Mots-Clés : Espagne. Parlement. Histoire. Libéral.99Rev. int. estud. vascos. Cuad., 6, 2010, 99-103Sierra, María: Introduction to Political Representation in Spanish Parliamentary History100 Rev. int. estud. vascos. Cuad., 6, 2010, 99-103Modern Spanish Parliament has been in existence for two centuries. Its his-tory shares common features with the histories of other Western parliamentarysystems, but at the same time also shows some distinctive characteristics1. Inspite of the efforts of the deputies themselves to present the liberal Parliamentof the XIX century as the heir of the medieval Cortes of the country, the truth isthat the parliamentary institution that emerged in 1812 in Cadiz with the LiberalRevolution bore little resemblance to the old consultative assemblies based onsocial categories. The hegemony of the legislative power over the monarchicexecutive was so explicitly affirmed in the 1812 Constitution that the systemcame to suffer from a lack of balance amongst the powers. In any case, univer-sal (indirect) suffrage favoured a very broad design of political citizenship, in con-sonance with the results of other European revolutions2.Shortly afterwards, and again in keeping with what was happening in post-rev-olutionary Europe, the conservative drift of liberalism rectified the initial design ofthe parliamentary system through a constitutional scheme in which the legislativepower lost its supremacy over the Crown. Thus, the moderate Constitution of1845 established a system of “shared sovereignty” in Spain, which gave theCrown significant powers such as legislative initiative, the convening of electionsand the dissolution of the Cortes. Moreover, the electoral legislation placednotable restrictions on the right to vote, setting a high economic requirement as acondition for being able to participate. Even more important than these laws, evenmore determinant for the loss of prestige of the parliamentary system underIsabel II, was a series of political practices aimed at guaranteeing the predomi-nance of the executive branch and also conceived as a barrier on the politicalmobilisation of society. Put very briefly, it could be said that the distortion of par-liamentary system resulted from the tendency of the ruling political class todeprive the Parliament of numerous legislative initiatives, from the abuse of royalprerogatives in the choice of the head of governments and from the manipulationof elections in order to create artificial parliamentary majorities; all aimed at main-taining a monopoly of government control3. This inturn fueled pejorative views ofthe parliamentary system, such as that reflected in the cycle of novels EpisodiosNacionales by Benito Pérez Galdós, in one of which the protagonist is a novicedeputy who, along with his colleague, kills time in the fruitless parliamentary ses-sions by analysing the wigs worn by the other founding fathers4.1. A general view can be found in MARCUELLO, Juan I.; PEREZ LEDESMA, Manuel. “Parlamentoy poder ejecutivo en la España contemporánea (1810-1936)”. Revista Estudios Políticos 93, 1996,pp. 17-38. This article is part of the projects funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia BHA2002-01007 yHUM2006-00819).2. Recent interpretations have give less relevance to the contribution of this Constitution withrespect to the declaration of citizens’ rights, considering it rather to have been an affirmation of aconcept of the unitary and catholic nation, PORTILLO, José María: Revolución de nación. Orígenes dela cultura constitucional en España, 1780-1812. Madrid. Centro EPC, 2000. On the contrary, otherauthors have emphasised the innovative content of the Cadiz revolution, PEREZ LEDESMA. Manuel“Las Cortes de Cádiz y la sociedad española”, Ayer 1 (1991), pp. 166-206.3. MARCUELLO BENEDICTO, Juan Ignacio. “La Corona y la desnaturalización del parlamentaris-mo Isabelino”, La política en el reinado de Isabel II, Ayer 29, 1998; pp. 15-36.4. PEREZ GALDOS, Benito. Narváez. Episodios Nacionales, Serie IV. Madrid: Librería y CasaEditorial Hernando, 1943; pp. 169-173. (written in 1902).In spite of these negative stereotypes, which found an efficient projection inthe XX century’s anti-parliamentarianism, the fact is that there were periods ofpromising and genuine parliamentary activity, above all in those brief stageswhen advanced liberalism dominated the government. This occurred during theBienio Progresista (1854-1856) and especially during the Sexenio Democrático(1868-1874). Political life in this second period, marked by the government ofthe progressive liberal, democratic and republican parties, rested on a newConstitution (1869) that recovered the supremacy of the Parliament over theother powers and limited the privileges of the Crown. Moreover, the politicalpractices confirmed the principal role of the Parliament recognised by constitu-tional theory: in spite of the government instability, there was an intense legisla-tive activity in the Cortes and the key political decisions were made there(whether the regime should be a Monarchy or a Republic, for example)5. Thegreater role of the legislative power was completed with a democratic electoralsystem, which for the first time established direct universal suffrage in Spain.And although this certainly did not imply the disappearance of the various for-mulas of electoral corruption, which in some ways became more sophisticated, itwas in consonance with a broad conception of citizen’s rights and freedoms.The restoration of the Monarchy in 1876 marked a return to the more closedmodel of conservative liberalism, with the Crown recovering lost political powersand the reestablishment of “shared sovereignty”. Even more problematic thanthe return to the restrictions on suffrage through criteria based on income, whichsubstantially reduced the electoral census with respect to the previous stage,was the form in which the King interpreted his powers. Well into the XXthCentury, and with an increasingly mobilised society, Alfonso XIII wanted to act asa moderating referee in political life –supposedly impartial, but in fact highly con-ditioned by his attachment to the most conservative institutions of Spanish life,the Army and the Church–. Although there were some reformist initiatives, thepolitical class of this period wasn’t overly inclined to taking the risk of favouringan authentication of the representative system either, because they would losecontrol of arranged elections whose results had been agreed upon beforehand.For these reasons, while from the later decades of XIXth Century other Europeancountries made a legislative and political effort to authenticate the representa-tive bodies, the Spanish Parliament was entering a dead-end street of inactivityand loss of prestige. Finally in 1923, the military coup d’état of Primo de Rivera,with the acquiescence of the King, suspended parliamentary activity6. Although aConsultative National Assembly was created, this did not fulfill the basic charac-teristics of a parliamentary assembly; and neither did the Cortes of Franco’s dic-tatorship soon after.Sierra, María: Introduction to Political Representation in Spanish Parliamentary History101Rev. int. estud. vascos. Cuad., 6, 2010, 99-1035. PEREZ LEDESMA, Manuel. “La vida parlamentaria en España: de la Revolución de 1868 a laderrota republicana de 1939”. In: CAPELLAN DE MIGUEL, Gonzalo (Ed). Parlamento y parlamenta-rismo en la España liberal. Manuel de Orovio y Práxedes Mateo-Sagasta. Logroño: Parlamento de laRioja-Ateneo Riojano, 2000; pp. 23-65.6. On the Parliament of the Restoration and the reform proposals cut short by the coup of Primode Rivera, see CABRERA, Mercedes (Dir.). Con luz y taquígrafos. El Parlamento de la Restauración(1913-1923). Madrid: Taurus, 2001.7. CABRERA, Mercedes. “Las Cortes republicanas”. In: JULIA, Santos (Ed.). Política en laSegunda República, Ayer 20, 1995.8. SOTO CARMONA, Alvaro. “De las Cortes orgánicas a las Cortes Democráticas”. In: REDEROSAN ROMAN, Manuel (Ed.). La Transición a la democracia en España, Ayer 15, 1994; pp. 109-133.Sierra, María: Introduction to Political Representation in Spanish Parliamentary History102 Rev. int. estud. vascos. Cuad., 6, 2010, 99-103Between the two dictatorships of the XX century, there was a brief hint ofparliamentary hegemony during the II Spanish Republic (1931-1936). In thistime, the supremacy of the legislative power was strengthened by the participa-tion in Parliament, above all during the first legislature, of numerous intellectualswho made the cause of the Republic and its project of change their own. TheConstitution of 1931 clearly established the leading role of the Parliament in leg-islative initiatives and its legal authority to appoint the President of the State; butalso envisaged the articulation of powers in the inverse direction7.The most outstanding peculiarity of the Spanish trajectory resides in thelengthy suspension of parliamentary tradition with Franco’s dictatorship from1939 onwards. In spite of the existence of the Cortes during this period, thesewere neither representative nor pluralist, and they did not exercise any type ofeffective power. Defining itself as an “organic democracy”, through its doubleopposition to liberal democracy and Marxism, Franco´s regime created someCortes in which representation corresponded to the three supposedly constitu-tive corporations of Spanish society (the members of the Cortes, so-calledprocuradores, “represented” the Family, the Municipality and the Vertical TradeUnion [Sindicato], through a strongly conditioned vote). That these Cortes wereempty of any representative substance, in the context of a dictatorial regimewhose head of State monopolised all authority, is evident from the fact that theydid not possess any of the functions that correspond to assemblies of this typein parliamentary systems: they had no legislative initiative, nor were they entrust-ed with any function of control over the executive power, nor over the govern-ment emanating from them8.The transition to democracy that took place from 1975 onwards managed torecover the Parliament as one of the fundamental spaces of political life. Thechange from the organic Cortes to the democratic Cortes was led by AdolfoSuárez and channelled through the Law for Political Reform. This operationinvolved a process of political transition for which it would be difficult to find anycomparison: it was unique due to the attitude of the official political class of theprevious regime, which to a large extent accepted its own dissolution as such; itwas also unique because of the attitude of the democratic opposition which,going back on its previous radical discourse, agreed to negotiation; and it wassingular because of the maturity of the citizenry that responded positively to theproposals for political modernisation. In a complementary way, the electoral lawsof 1977 introduced, together with direct universal and secret suffrage, the nov-elty of indicating that the political parties were the protagonists of the electoralprocesses, especially those aimed at forming the Cortes of Deputies.This eventful history, with its advances and setbacks, has been approachedfrom different angles, although with a certain lag with respect to other westernSierra, María: Introduction to Political Representation in Spanish Parliamentary History103Rev. int. estud. vascos. Cuad., 6, 2010, 99-103historiographies. Recently, I’ve developed a research project designed to delvedeeper into the liberal origins of the Spanish parliamentary system and, moreprecisely, into the concepts of representation evolved by the diverse politicalgroups during the XIXth Century9. The research has been developed along threelines of work. Firstly, reconstructing the process of elaboration of the electorallegislation, clarifying what were the main issues of debate and the solutionsadopted in response to the most critical questions (extension of suffrage, requi-sites for eligibility, parliamentary incompatibilities, electoral offenses, etc.).Secondly, reconstructing the prosopographical outline of the political class thatwas especially involved in the elaboration of this legislation –as a whole, but alsodelimiting the nuances of each ideological or party group. Thirdly, analysing thediscourse that gave form to the the concept of representation, focusing to thelinguistic and intellectual resources and lines of argument employed, from acomparative perspective that contextualises the Spanish case by contrasting itwith those of France, Great Britain and Italy10.The conclusions of this research allow me to point out an observation regard-ing the success or failure of this parliamentary system whose gestation I havesummarised. Although the history of its origins does not offer an idyllic panoramathat would perfectly complement the parliamentary canon, but instead an irreg-ular path made up of as many setbacks as achievements (as would occur in thehistorical analysis of any other case), what is certain is that the suspension ofthe Spanish parliamentary system by Franco’s dictatorship did not constitute themerely formal elimination of an empty institution. However much anti-parliamen-tarianism of this or of any other kind successfully spread the image of theParliament as a decorative and useless assembly into the XX century, the realityis that in the XIX century the Parliament had been one of the central spaces ofthe political struggle. Not the only one, nor the most decisive one when com-pared with the power of the Army or the Court pressure groups. But it was aspace where Spanish liberal politicians attempted to define themselves with theirgaze fixed on Europe, looking for effective models of the ideal representative gov-ernment. Its potential contribution, the creation of a tolerant political culture thatencouraged dialogue, should be kept in mind. 9. The project, “The Profession of Deputy. The Idea of Political Representation in Liberal Spain(1845-1890)”, was developed in cooperation with other colleagues of the University of Huelva – MªAntonia Peña – and the University of Alicante – Rafael Zurita. A more complete presentation of theresearch can be found in SIERRA, Maria; ZURITA, Rafael; PEÑA, Maria Antonia. La representaciónpolítica en la España Liberal, Ayer 61, 2006.10. The main conclusions in SIERRA, María. “The Profession of Deputy. The Idea of PoliticalRepresentation In Liberal Spain”. Parliaments, States and Representation, 30. 2010.

Introduction to political representation in Spanish parliamentary history

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Introduction to political representation in Spanish parliamentary history

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idUS. Depósito de Investigación Universidad de Sevilla