La cultura de la participación

Abstract

This article analyses the first faltering steps of the political culture of participation in the early days of liberalism. Following the death of Ferdinand VII and the failure of the reformist path of the Statute —which was initially thought to be an acceptable formula for most of the liberal families but which in the event came to nought— eventually the pressure to break with the past prevailed; this opened the way to the extension of suffrage, thus lending impetus to a perception among the citizenry of the possibility of achieving electoral rights. An important landmark in this respect was the law of 1837, in that by granting suffrage to the middle classes, it dynamised political life and fertilised the ground for the growth of a culture of participation, a process that was truncated when the moderates came to power and restricted political rights to the elite among the wealthiest taxpayers.

Keywords

• Citizens
• Electoral Laws
• Moderates
• Political Rights
• Progressives
• Royal Statute