Federal republicanism

Federal republicanism is an ideology, prevalent mainly in the 19th century Spain, which incorporates republicanism and advocates local associations of citizens and promotes citizen participation in public affairs. An important part being the concept of federalism, looking for the devolution or distribution and management to smaller administrative units to prevent governments with a strong central concentration of power. It was the prelude to cantonalism in the Glorious Revolution (Spain).

Anarchists have tended to feel close to Republican authors, e.g., Benjamin Tucker who wrote, "Anarchists are simply Jeffersonian democrats till the last consequences and without fear of it. They believe that 'the best government is that which governs least', and that which governs least does not govern at all", referring to quotes from Thomas Jefferson and Henry David Thoreau.Mikhail Bakunin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon expressed their sympathies to the ideal of Jeffersonian democracy and proclaimed it to be close to the anarchist idea. Enrique Flores Magon tried to win over the Mexican public by claiming Thomas Jefferson was "an anarchist of his time".

Francisco Pi y Margall was claimed by the Spanish anarchists of his time. It was speculated that he drew his conception of federalism from the work Principle of Federation of the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, although some experts argue that the ideas of Pi Margall were already outlined in his earlier writings prior to Proudhon's work.

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