This research program builds on my comparative work on decentralization, though it pursues several of the questions developed in this research in a more precise and case-specific manner in the country of Spain.

The first phase of this research (2002-07) involved intensive study of the effects of federalism and decentralization on political careers, the national parties, and legislative politics during the 1977-2004 period of Spanish democracy. The following articles represent the main findings of this phase of the work:

The Limits of Decentralization: Legislative Careers and Territorial Representation in Spain. West European Politics 30:3 (May 2007).

The Politics of Decentralization in a Centralized Party System: The Case of Democratic Spain. Comparative Politics 38:1 (October 2005).

Speaking for Place or For Party? Territorial Representation and the Legislative Behavior of Deputies in the Spanish Congreso. In Democracy and Institutional Development: Spain in Comparative Theoretical Perspective, eds. Bonnie Field and Kerstin Hamann. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

During the current phase of research on Spanish federalism, I am measuring the geographic distribution and rate of decentralization using legislative and legal data.