In present-day

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

a ''mancomunidad'' ( an, mancomunidat, ast, mancomunidá, ca, mancomunitat, gl, mancomunidade, eu, mankomunitatea; in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

"commonwealth" or municipal association) is an association of

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

voluntarily established by some municipalities with the aim of carrying out joint projects or providing common services. A ''mancomunidad'' is a

legal personality Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or altogether the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person ...

, and can exist either for a particular period to achieve a concrete goal or can exist indefinitely. A Spanish ''mancomunidad'' is one of the ''local entities'' defined for the purpose of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

, to which those municipalities may voluntarily delegate some of their functions and powers. It is similar to a

comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...

, with the difference that ''comarca'' has somewhat different meanings in the various

autonomous communities of Spain eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administr ...

and ''mancomunidad'' is defined identically throughout the country. The municipalities in a single ''mancomunidad'' need not be coterminous (though they usually are). They are required to set a clear goal, create management bodies distinct from those of the individual municipalities, and provide the ''mancomunidad'' with its own budget.

Purpose

In general, mancomunidades are aimed at carrying out joint projects or providing common services There are a number of

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing soc ...

s that, despite of the strong identity and common goals of their inhabitants, are divided by provincial or even ancient kingdom borders. Examples of such regions are

Tierra de Campos Tierra de Campos ("Land of Fields") is a large historical and natural region or greater comarca that straddles the provinces of León, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia, in Castile and León, Spain. It is a vast, desolate plain with practically ...

Manchuela Manchuela or La Manchuela ("lesser La Mancha") is a ''comarca'' located in Castile-La Mancha and Valencian Community, Spain. Historical comarca The historical Manchuela comarca included the municipalities of Tarazona de la Mancha and Villa ...

and

Ilercavonia Ilercavonia ( ca, Ilercavònia, es, Ilercavonia) is an ancient comarca of Spain formerly populated by the ancient Iberian tribe known as Ilercavones. It is a greater comarca made up of smaller ones. The ties between the people of the region tra ...

. Such regions or comarcas have often not been able to achieve the necessary legal recognition for their administrative development within the existing provincial or autonomous frameworks. Therefore, their municipalities have resorted to organizing themselves into a mancomunidad. Other groups of municipalities that don't face the problem of borders cutting across their natural region of comarca may form a mancomunidad for economical purposes, to improve local services or in order alleviate some form of historical administrative neglect owing to distance from and lack of communication with current administrative centers.

Other uses

The term ''mancomunidad'' and its cognates are also used to translate the English word " commonwealth".

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{in lang, es}
Mancomunidades in Spain
interactive map.
Mancomunidad Tierra de Caballeros

Web Mancomunidad Terra de Celanova
Government of Spain Forms of local government