Autonomous Communities of Spain
Autonomous Communities of Spain | |
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Category | Autonomous administrative division |
Location | Spain |
Created by | Constitution of Spain |
Created | 2000 |
Number | 13 |
An Autonomous Community of Spain is a first-level political and administrative division. Each autonomous community was created by the Constitution of Spain. Autonomous communities were established to act as administrative divisions for the new Third Republic and to let the country's numerous nationalities and cultures be represented in their own governments.
Autonomous communities work similarity to administrative divisions in Anglo-America, as each autonomous community is guaranteed its own separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government and are entitled to representation in the Senate and Congress of Deputies. However, the federal government has the power and right to override laws and rulings in autonomous communities that contradict federal law. This has generated controversy, since it allows the incumbent government to force autonomous communities to support its agenda. Before the establishment of autonomous communities, Spain was ruled as a unitary state, with the national government assuming executive power over every region.
The system was established in 2000 following the creation of the Third Republic and the fall of the Spanish People's Republic which functioned as a unitary Landonist state under a socialist republic. The autonomous communities were inspired by the system of federalism in nations like Superior, Germany, and even the United Commonwealth with slight inspiration from the Westminster system in the United Kingdom.