Local Structure and Municipal Associations in Spain: Facts, Trends and Problems

Abstract

The main feature of the Spanish local structure is its fragmentation. Although self-government principle is widely recognized in legal and constitutional terms, this fact makes local governments in practice to be subordinate to both central and regional governments and therefore lack adequate power, personnel and material resources to deal with both the compulsory responsibilities assigned to them and those voluntary services they decide to provide in their communities' interest. Since fragmentation is an obstacle to provide services efficiently, most local governments co-operate between them to create inter-municipal associations as an alternative to amalgamations that work in practice in an anarchical way whilst neither regions nor provinces are interested in strengthening municipalities fearing the emergence of a powerful institutional and political counterweight.