Political Culture in Spanish America, 1500-1830

2018 Outstanding Academic Title, selected by Choice Political Culture in Spanish America, 1500-1830 examines the nature of Spanish American political culture by reevaluating the political theory, institutions, and practices of the Hispanic world.Consisting of eight case studieswith a focus on New Spain and Quito,Jaime E. RodrÍguez O. demonstrates that the process of independence of Spanish America differs from previous claims. In 1188 King Alfonso IX convened the Cortes, the first congress in Europe that included the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the towns.This heritage, along withevents in the sixteenth century, including the rebellionof Castilla andtheProtestant Reformation,transformed the nature of Hispanic political thought. RodrÍguez O. argues that those developments, rather than the Enlightenment, were the basis of the Hispanic revolution and the Constitution of 1812. Emphasizing continuityrather than the rejection of Hispanic political culture,and including the Atlantic perspective, Political Culture in Spanish America, 1500-1830 demonstrates the nature of the Hispanic revolution and the process of independence. RodrÍguez O.'s work will encourage historians of Spanish America to reexamine the political institutions and processes of those nations from a broad perspective to gain a deeper understanding of the Spanish American countries that emerged from the breakup of the composite monarchy.