The 1978 constitution created what is known as the State of Autonomies.2 That is, a quasi federal State that transfers powers and resources to the newly created regions and regional governments. The resulting system has been called “imperfect federalism” (Moreno 1994) or “semi-federalism” (Lijphart 1999:189).3 It should be recalled that we are dealing with a process of federalization, not devolution. Certainly, there were two autonomous