ABSTRACT
One of the most remarkable achievements of the Spanish state since 1977 has been the accommodation of demands for regional autonomy. These demands did not emerge out of thin air but were a resumption of a process that had been abruptly aborted on the outbreak of the civil war in 1936 and suppressed during the long dictatorship of General Franco. However, the process of regionalization in the Spanish political system, in the period since 1977, has gone much further than anything that was envisaged in 1936. Nor has the process been unique to Spain: during the 1970s, many West European states have experienced demands for either autonomy or independence from regions within their boundaries. From Scotland in the north to Sardinia in the south, new political parties have challenged the authority of the central government as well as the redistributive assumptions on which the modern democratic welfare state is based. Although the pressures for autonomy within Spain are characterized by many features that are peculiar to the Spanish context, it is instructive to consider, as a preliminary to any discussion of the Spanish case, the broader West European experience of regional assertiveness.
