Spanish federalism and parliamentary democracy: tensions, interactions and coping mechanisms

In the current Spanish federal system (Estado autonómico) the principles of democracy or parliamentarianism and those of autonomy and decentralization have been traditionally conceived as mutually reinforcing elements needing each other for its endurance. Apparently, however, less attention has been paid to a number of possible sources of tension and decoupling between the constitutionally entrenched majoritarian parliamentary system, executive-dominated and adversarial in practice, and some of the functional requirements of intergovernmental coordination and multilevel and multidimensional electoral competition in a system with a large variety of regionally-based parties present in central and regional parliaments and executives. These tensions are exacerbated in moments of absolute majority at the central parliament, but seem to soften, however, in situations of minority government through a series of mechanisms of multilevel political exchange (Field 2015). In this fashion, the systems have managed to enhance some inter-institutional accountability, foster a larger power balance and a greater control of the executive, through vertical and horizontal separation of powers, through multilevel coalitions and relationships between different parties at various levels. This, together with a high party congruence between levels, has also had a moderating effect within the parliament of the right-left dimension of party competition and a greater coordination among governments in terms of policies.