The Political and Institutional History of Colonial Spanish America Alejandro Can ˜ eque* University of Maryland Abstract This essay argues for a need to develop a new political history of colonial Spanish America in order to bring up to date the old institutional history of the Spanish empire. In recent decades, historians of colonial Spanish America have not shown much interest in the study of political and institutional history. Originally, this constituted a welcome reaction against the previous emphasis on the institutional and legal aspects of the Spanish empire. But one effect of this historiographical development has been that, while our knowledge of the social history of colonial Spanish America has progressed in an impressive way, our knowledge of the mechanisms of imperial rule has made very little progress in the last 50 years. As a result, colonial historians have to rely on antiquated or inadequate notions regarding the political and institutional nature of Spanish colonialism. How- ever, the new political history of colonial Spanish America should not focus on the study of the colonial state, but rather on the political culture of the Spanish empire. When it comes to defining the political nature of the Spanish empire in America histori- ans in the English-speaking world have usually taken a binary approach. The Spanish empire is seen either as medieval and backward or as the harbinger of the modern state. Perhaps no one has expressed the first view in a more flamboyant manner than the still influential Irving A. Leonard, who contended that, in America, Spain created a ‘‘neo- medieval regime’’ which was ‘‘already an anachronism.’’ 1 In the view of other scholars, however, the Spanish monarchy erected a modern state apparatus in colonial Spanish America that pioneered new procedures of bureaucratic control, establishing a centralized and rationalized model of governance. It prefigured the Weberian model of legal domina- tion that did not become predominant in the West until the nineteenth century. Thus, the power of the colonial bureaucracy was, by the standards of the time, tight and effi- cient. By imposing this heavy bureaucratic apparatus on society in order to avoid the formation of dominant social groups, the colonial state had achieved a hegemonic role. 2 One of the reasons why this dichotomy still dominates the study of the Spanish empire is that in recent decades most historians of colonial Spanish America have not shown an excessive interest in the study of the colonial state or the politics of imperial rule. Origi- nally, this constituted a welcome reaction against the previous emphasis on the institu- tional and legal aspects of the Spanish dominion in America. Instead, the emphasis shifted to the social and economic aspects of the local colonial societies, along with their ethnic makeup. But one effect of this historiographical development has been that, while our knowledge of the social structure of colonial Spanish America has progressed in an impressive way, especially in regard to the subaltern groups of colonial society, our knowledge of the mechanisms of imperial rule has made very little progress in the last fifty years. The end result has been that, whereas we now have a highly developed and sophisticated understanding of the history of those formerly known as ‘‘the people History Compass 11/4 (2013): 280–291, 10.1111/hic3.12043 ª 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd