Our working hypothesis unfolds in two main objectives:
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- Understand and study the role of local and regional elites as articulators (knuckle joint) between local and regional interests and the general interests of the country and the dictatorship, at a political, social, cultural, and economic level.
- Establish the role of these elites in the legitimization of the State and the Administration, and in the establishment of discourses and practices of a regionalist nuance integrated or tolerated by Francoism due to its centripetal nature with respect to national construction.
Based on these general objectives and in accordance with the corpus of work identified for each case, we propose the following specific objectives:
1a) Deepen the study of the creation, continuity and updating of these elites with respect to the first third of the 20th century and the subsequent Transition, as well as their influence on the configuration of national policies.
1b) Analyze what alliances they had within the regime at a national, regional, and local level, and with what social support.
1c) Study their role as interpreters of tradition, connectors with modernity and modulators of government guidelines.
1d) Evaluate and analyze the continuity and redefinition of their projects with respect to the pre-war programs.
2a) Analyze the discourses (cultural, political, legal) of these elites and their influence on the modernization of Francoism.
2b) Study the evolution and bureaucratic deployment, as well as the emergence of a modern technocracy. Situate this action historically and trace coincidences and disparities with similar processes at the European level.
2c) Investigate in which cases the interests of these local/regional groups were capable of being translated into national policies totally or partially, influencing the modernization of the regime.
2d) Analyze the political, social, and family ties that emerged between local and regional leaders and the growing peripheral civil service in the Franco period.