Suchergebnisse

Introduction: Examining Political Rhetoric in Spanish Constitutional Debates -- Chapter one: A Survey of Constitutional Debates in Spain's Nineteenth Century -- Chapter two: The Historical Framework of Spain's Twentieth-Century Constituent Moments -- Chapter three: Understanding Democracy in the Constituent Debates of 1931 and 1977–78 -- Chapter four: Competing Meanings of the New Democratic State -- Chapter five: Constitutional State Powers -- Chapter six: The Decentralization of Spain as a Political Nation -- Conclusion.

This book delves into the conceptual changes produced by the Spanish constitutional debate held between 27 August and 9 December 1931. Taking place at the beginning of Spain's Second Republic, those parliamentary deliberations brought about significant novelties in the political vocabulary. Concepts such as democracy, sovereignty, reform, revolution, and freedom, among others, were re-signified.

This study investigates the conceptual contributions made by Spanish MPs in the course of the constitutional debate of 1931 by assuming, as a research approach, an interdisciplinary stance combining conceptual history, political theory, and parliamentary constitutional history. By doing so, it selects five determining issues: the pervasive discussion about two competing meanings of a democratic state; the rhetorical uses of reform and revolution; conceptual controversies about religious freedom; the disputed idea of property rights; and the functions of parliament and the president of the republic in a semi-presidential regime. The constitutional debate was largely inspired by interwar European constitutionalism which constituent representatives used to update the Spanish constitutional tradition.

With that goal in mind, this book is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students and scholars working in the fields of conceptual history, political philosophy, parliamentary history, European political history, and European constitutionalism.

This article aims to elucidate the relationship between the ideas of state, constitution, and Parliament in the Spanish constitutional debate of 1931. It argues that Members of Parliament (MPs) made a valuable contribution when understanding the relevance of this interrelation in terms of political philosophy and legal theory. From a methodological perspective, this study pays attention to the arguments of MPs in the course of the constitutional sessions which took place between August and December 1931. In doing so, it portrays the ideological differences of left-wing, centrist and right-wing parties in that constituent assembly. In the first section ("European influences on the Constitution of 1931") the intellectual links with interwar trends of public law, administrative law and European constitutionalism are highlighted. The second section ("Constitution and Parliament according to Spanish representatives"), shows the meanings given to this nascent constitutional democracy by MPs. Despite their ideological differences they were in favour of strengthening Parliament and the Constitution as a prerequisite for safeguarding democracy. The conclusions resume the argumentative thread, that is to say, that the regime, a democratic republic, was understood by a large majority of MPs as the confluence of three conditions founded on doctrinal and conceptual exchanges from interwar European constitutionalism: the acknowledgement of parliamentary sovereignty, the legal and administrative revamping of institutions, and state intervention in the economy.

This paper aims to answer the question of why constituent moments are relevant to political theory. It hypothesises the Spanish constitutional debate of 1931 as a case of conceptual innovation in parliamentary politics by arguing that debates in constituent moments entail a special kind of parliamentary argumentation when new political regimes are established. There, all sorts of theoretical, normative, historical, and institutional aspects are discussed to deliberate on the future character and functioning of a political regime. From a methodological point of view, this analysis draws on the revision of arguments and political terms used by MPs during the Spanish constituent assembly of 1931. The first part of the article emphasises the potentiality of constitutional debates for political theory and conceptual history, the two following chapters contextualise the historical and intellectual keys of 1931 Spain, the fourth and final part briefly explains two cases of conceptual controversy around the terms "state" and "sovereignty". Based on the evidence provided by this study, the article concludes that the Spanish constitutional debate of 1931 is a fertile case to explore conceptual innovation of interwar legal and political theory.

This paper aims to answer the question of why constituent moments are relevant to political theory. It hypothesises the Spanish constitutional debate of 1931 as a case of conceptual innovation in parliamentary politics by arguing that debates in constituent moments entail a special kind of parliamentary argumentation when new political regimes are established. There, all sorts of theoretical, normative, historical, and institutional aspects are discussed to deliberate on the future character and functioning of a political regime. From a methodological point of view, this analysis draws on the revision of arguments and political terms used by MPs during the Spanish constituent assembly of 1931. The first part of the article emphasises the potentiality of constitutional debates for political theory and conceptual history, the two following chapters contextualise the historical and intellectual keys of 1931 Spain, the fourth and final part briefly explains two cases of conceptual controversy around the terms "state" and "sovereignty". Based on the evidence provided by this study, the article concludes that the Spanish constitutional debate of 1931 is a fertile case to explore conceptual innovation of interwar legal and political theory. ; peerReviewed

Resumen: Este estudio analiza el debate parlamentario de 1931 en España, en el marco del debate sobre la nueva Constitución, en torno a la libertad de conciencia a través de las relaciones entre Iglesia y Estado que los distintos partidos políticos perfilan. Defiende que el debate sobre la libertad de conciencia es, sobre todo, un debate sobre el papel de estas dos instituciones en el nuevo orden constituyente. En la primera parte de este trabajo se recogen las intervenciones parlamentarias que configuran el debate constitucional sobre la libertad de conciencia durante septiembre de 1931. Junto a ellas se exponen algunos de los factores políticos que ayudan a entender el contexto del debate constitucional en esas fechas. En la segunda parte se introducen precisiones sobre el vocabulario político de los constituyentes, enfatizando la necesidad de prestar atención al uso de conceptos políticos comunes: secularización, autonomía, libertad y Estado. En la tercera parte se examinan, al hilo de las intervenciones parlamentarias del debate constitucional a lo largo de octubre de 1931, los argumentos aducidos por los diputados de las distintas formaciones y se recapitulan las razones que sostienen la hipótesis de trabajo.Palabras clave: Debate constitucional español de 1931, Constitución española de 1931, libertad de conciencia, Iglesia y Estado en España, vocabulario político de la Segunda República.Abstract: This study examines the Spanish parliamentary debate of 1931, in the framework of the debate on the new Constitution, about freedom of conscience through the relations between Church and State outlined by the different political parties. It defends that the debate on freedom of conscience deals mainly with the role of both institutions in the new constituent order. The first part of this article shows parliamentary sessions on freedom of conscience that took place in September 1931. In the second part some clarifications regarding the political vocabulary used by the constituents are introduced. It pays attention to the use of common political: secularisation, autonomy, liberty and State. In the third part the arguments held by the representative during October 1931 are examined. Finally, it summarises the arguments supporting the article's hypothesis.Keywords: Spanish constitutional debate of 1931, Spanish Constitution of 1931, freedom of conscience, church and state in Spain, political vocabulary of the Spanish Second Republic.