La Diputación Provincial de Huelva, entre el franquismo y la transición (1936-1979). Estudio histórico, político e institucional

Abstract

This doctoral thesis aims to conduct a historical study of the political and institutional evolution of the Provincial Council of Huelva during the period from 1936 to 1979, from the beginning of Franco's regime until the first democratic local elections of April 1979 of the new constitutional regime. Provincial councils played a central role in the relations between the State and the municipalities, and as part of the political and administrative framework of the State itself, they carried out a central role of control over local life, of great utility for the purposes of central power, although the Diputació, as a political institution, played a different role depending on the political context in which it carried out its functions. The aim is twofold: on the one hand, to study the Provincial Council from a historiographical approach and methodology, and on the other hand, to illustrate the role played by the institution in the political, social and economic context of the province of Huelva, making it necessary to draw on contributions from other areas of knowledge such as law and public finance. The provincial councils contributed at first to the establishment and strengthening of theNew Totalitarian State, by means of political control of the local authorities, and under the instructions emanating from the Civil Government at all times. Under Franco, the province gained ground against the municipality, but, ultimately, the Provincial Council and the province lost power to the State, within the marked centralism of this historical period