Publius: The Journal of Federalism Advance Access originally published online on January 9, 2009
Publius: The Journal of Federalism 2009 39(2):262-288; doi:10.1093/publius/pjn037
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This article appears in the following Publius: The Journal of Federalism issue: Federalism and Constitutional Change [View the issue table of contents]
Constitutional Change Without Constitutional Reform: Spanish Federalism and the Revision of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy
*Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spanish Distance Learning University), UNED; ccolino{at}poli.uned.es
This article analyzes the constitutional change in federations that is driven by the bottom-up reform of subnational units constitutional arrangements as an alternative to the reforms of the federal constitution. Looking at the case of Catalonia's recent reform of its statute of autonomy, it discusses and evaluates some of the benefits and pitfalls of the utilization of substantial subnational constitutional discretion and the likely consequences of this mode of reform for the Spanish model of federalism and others. This is done through the study of the initiation of the Catalan reform process, its content and scope, and through the investigation of the political and institutional factors that account for its occurrence and final outcomes.