Decentralization in Spain

“This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Regional Studies on 2002, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343400220131160”.Decentralization in Spain, Reg. Studies 36, 399–408. Since the transition to democracy in the late 1970s, Spain has undergone a process of deep decentralization and an incipient federalization. This article analyses the main features of such processes underlying the high level of home rule achieved by the 17 Comunidades Auto´nomas, when compared to other federal-like systems in the world. Accommodating Spain’s secular diversity appears to be in line with the increasing role of meso life in the process of Europeanization.Peer reviewe