Political representation and multiple modernities. The Catalan diplates in the cortes of Cádiz (1810-1814)

© 2018 Seminario de Historia Constitucional "Martínez Marina". All rights reserved. In this article we try to analyze the transition from the imperative mandate to the representative mandate through the performance of the Catalan deputies in the Cortes de Cádiz (1810-1814). It is explored how the conditions derived from the rigors of the Napoleonic War and the needs of the model of economic development of the eighteenth century Catalonia led to a majority nonalignment of Catalan MP in favor of political liberalism and if instead they were within a reformism late-Enlightment. In short, the central thesis of the article is to demonstrate how there were different multiple ways of modernization that also led to the territorial elites opted for variable channels of representation, between the imperative mandate and the representative in terms of the interests they wanted to defend.