Spain GOVERNMENT
Congress of Deputies, Madrid
Courtesy National Tourist Office of Spain
Figure 12. System of Government, 1988
The royal Palace, Madrid
Courtesy Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
According to the 1978 Constitution, political power is
centered in the bicameral Cortes, and the king exercises
largely
honorific functions as head of state
(see
fig. 12).
Judicial
power is vested in independent courts. The governmental
system
outlined in the new Constitution, in its emphasis on
democratic
principles and its provisions for decentralization,
represents a
radical transformation in the nature of the Spanish state.
Data as of December 1988
|