Mayors' perceptions on local government reforms and decentralization in Spain

Abstract

This article analyses Spanish Mayors’ perceptions on three areas of possible reforms that are currently on the local government agenda: re-scaling, amalgamations and metropolitanization. This study shows two main features: On the one hand, a relative homogeneity regarding mayors’ perceptions of reforms and, on the other hand, a consistent difference in the mayors’ orientations from two groups of autonomous communities. The first ones acceded to the “fast track” decentralization process that unfolded in Spain since 1978, due to the pressure exerted by their political leaders; the second group acceded to autonomy in a later wave, equating the distribution of power in all the territories of the state. Specifically, it is found that homogeneity in responses is only apparent when the two groups of mayors are considered. Thus, those from “fast track” regions are more in favor of decentralization towards their regions and structures of coordination or cooperation between levels of government than mayors in “slow track” autonomous communities. We conclude that, in a scenario of shared power and multilevel interdependence, fast-track mayors tend to protect more intergovernmental agreements that favor spaces where they can control the formulation of policies that affect them.

Keywords

• alcaldes, gobierno local, fusiones, gobernanza metropolitana, descentralización.