Constitutional Law and Monarchical Agenda between Dictatorship and Transition: Career of Carlos Ollero Gómez (1912-1933)

Abstract

Carlos Ollero was an important legal scholar of the recent Spanish constitutionalism. Co-founder of the Instituto de Estudios Políticos, he took part in some of the Fundamental Laws of the dictatorship. State Theory and Constitutional Law Professor at the Faculty of Political Science in Madrid, he contributed to opening up the discipline to advances in sociology and political science. Together with Enrique Tierno Galván, he encouraged the creation of a plural, competent and democratic school of jurists, political scientists and sociologists. In the political sphere, he helped to give theoretical shape to and broaden the social space of the monarchist cause as a way of overcoming the dictatorship. He won for this cause many supporters in the anti-Franco opposition. Close to Juan Carlos and Adolfo Suárez, he played both a unifying and leading role in the process of transition to democracy in Spain, and also served as a constituent senator by royal appointment. The following lines are devoted to reconstructing his professional and intellectual career, as well as to assessing his doctrinal contributions.