So, Spanish America had an interesting government structure. At the top, it had the King and the Council of the Indies, who exercised executive, legislative, and judicial powers for the entire empire. Lower, it had the Viceroys and Captain-Generals as the executive for each viceroyalty and captaincy-general, and while nominally the Captain-Generals were subordinate to the Viceroys, they were essentially independent and reported right to the Council. There was also the judicial system of the Audiencia, which by 1800 had evolved into a court of appeals. However, it also had the right to assemble and advise the Viceroy/Captain-General who nominally presided over them (the exception to this was Quito, which had no Viceroy/Captain-General and so was ruled directly) as a sort of cabinet. The strength of the audiencia relative to the viceroy or captain-general was greatly variable, though it seems that the audiencia was steadily gaining more power and the viceroy/captain-general increasingly became little more than a military commander, with the formation of the post of "regent" for the highest judge of the audiencia. Therefore, the audiencia not only exercised judicial power, but it also exercised executive and legislative power. Below that, you had the municipal cabildos.
This entire system was demolished by the Spanish American wars of independence, a movement which began under the municipal cabildos. However, modern Spanish American borders closely follow the former audiencias with the notable exceptions of Central America and Mexico. Assuming, however, that the Peninsular War is averted and therefore Spanish American independence is kicked down the road, what's next in terms of administrative evolution? I imagine the audiencia would continue to assert itself in comparison to the viceroy/captain-general, fusing all branches of government into itself. Gradually, as demands for autonomy and democracy continue in the Americas, could the result be the formation of local legislatures or even the election of the audiencia itself? Either could be interesting, the former in that it firmly separates the executive power from the legislative power but not judicial and the latter in that the result is a democratic court of appeals (with lots of other functions). And just how workable would such a system be?
This entire system was demolished by the Spanish American wars of independence, a movement which began under the municipal cabildos. However, modern Spanish American borders closely follow the former audiencias with the notable exceptions of Central America and Mexico. Assuming, however, that the Peninsular War is averted and therefore Spanish American independence is kicked down the road, what's next in terms of administrative evolution? I imagine the audiencia would continue to assert itself in comparison to the viceroy/captain-general, fusing all branches of government into itself. Gradually, as demands for autonomy and democracy continue in the Americas, could the result be the formation of local legislatures or even the election of the audiencia itself? Either could be interesting, the former in that it firmly separates the executive power from the legislative power but not judicial and the latter in that the result is a democratic court of appeals (with lots of other functions). And just how workable would such a system be?