The State in the juridical-political thought of Manuel Garcia-Pelayo

This thesis presents a possible theory of the State elaborated by Manuel García-Pelayo y Alonso (1909-1991), first president of the Spanish Constitutional Court (1980-1986). The thesis can be divided in two parts. The first part (chapters one and two) deals García-Pelayo's life and works from a generational perspective and explores the principal authors who influence his thinking on the State. These authors are German, so that García-Pelayo can be properly considered a "German thinker of the State". In the second part of the thesis (chapters three, four and five), after exposing the methodology that will be used, which is implicit in the work of García-Pelayo, we expose a García-Pelayo's theory of political forms and, more specifically, a theory of the State that the Spanish jurist left dispersed through countless writings.