Salvador de Madariaga’s Federalism: A Two-Part Look at the European Integration and Spain’s Decentralization

Abstract

In the 1920s and early 1930s of the last century, Salvador de Madariaga (1886–1978), as a result of his cosmopolitan nature and internationalism, to use two concepts from his era, was one of the most enthusiastic Europeans in favour of the Briand Initiative and the League of Nations, which he formed part of from the time it was created, as one of the still few but great Spaniards who served that institution. Moreover, Madariaga always remained loyal to the seminal supra‐national experiment that the League represented. This can be seen in his radical understanding and even an exculpation which he rightly expressed about what has been considered that organisation’s failure: “No, it is not the League of Nations that has failed. It is the nations in the League that have.”

In fact, Madariaga’s thinking always reached above and beyond just sovereign States. His philosophies, which, despite everything, always include some sort of “nationalistic” dimension in which one can sense a “national” and even “pro‐Spanish” (españolista – a rather pejorative label, because of its extremism) sentiment, never ended with the nation or the State.