This article analyses the new situation created in the Spanish protectorate of Morocco after the advent of the Second Spanish Republic on 14 April 1931. The new policies of the Republican leaders led to a series of administrative reforms designed to lighten and reduce the unwieldy levels of bureaucracy and make it more agile and less burdensome in public funds. There was also a concern with raising the moral standards of the administrative system and clean up its corrupt practices as well as a more precise definition of the high commissioner, which would from then on be civil and which the military command would remain subordinate to. However, the decrees promulgated by the successive Republican Governments from 1931 to 1936 to improve and rationalise the administrative machinery, development plans in the area in order for them to be self-sufficient, and reduce the deficit in the budget clashed with opposition from interest groups and a lack of resources.
Reforms, Protectorate, High Commissioner, Azaña, decrees.