{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.023099133782483156, 'fraction_numerical': 0.007699711260827719, 'mean_word_length': 5.341463414634147, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Bourbon Reforms in Spanish America: a Semi-Autobiographical Re-Evaluation

The aim of this article is to demonstrate, from a subjective point of view, how interpretations of the Bourbon reforms in Spanish America have shifted since the 1960s. It examines whether they should be seen as a smooth, coherent, rational programme, introduced in the first half of the eighteenth century in peninsular Spain by its first two Bourbon kings, Philip V and Ferdinand VI, and thereafter extended to Spanish America primarily during the reign of Charles III, or, alternatively, as a programme characterised by procrastination, hesitation, and bureaucratic incompetence. It concludes that, on balance, the latter interpretation is more persuasive. It suggests, nevertheless, that by giving Spanish Americans a glimpse of the benefits that the relaxation of commercial restrictions might bring, the reforms helped to create the attitudes that would lead to the Revolutions for Independence in the wake of the collapse of the Bourbon monarchy in 1808.