# Local Government and Intergovernmental Relations Political Science I · Public Administration · https://tryals.app/learn/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations ## The Local Map Spain has roughly **8,100 municipalities**. The striking feature is their size: **more than four fifths have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants**, and many have under 100. The local map comprises three main levels: | Level | Body | Selection | |---|---|---| | **Municipality** | Ayuntamiento (headed by an alcalde) | Councillors elected; mayor chosen by council | | **Province** | Diputación provincial | Indirectly chosen from local councillors | | **Island territories** | Cabildos and consells insulars | Directly elected | The **provincial councils** are not directly elected. Their main role is to **support small municipalities** that lack administrative capacity. ### Municipal Competences Service duties scale with population size. In practice, local councils often provide **impropias**. These are informal services outside their statutory remit, such as local cultural or social schemes. A 2013 reform attempted to curb these unassigned duties, but political demand at the local level remains high. ### Intergovernmental Relations Three administrative levels require formal coordination instruments: - **Sectoral conferences**: sectoral state ministers and regional ministers meeting by policy area. - **The Conference of Presidents**: brings together the central government President and regional Presidents. - **Bilateral commissions**: formal meetings between the central state and an individual community. - **Cooperation agreements and joint plans**: shared programmes often tied to conditional funding. Spanish intergovernmental relations are often criticised for relying on **bilateral** bargaining. This practice favours powerful regions over multilateral consensus. > **Common pitfall:** assuming a small local council is inherently more effective. Below 5,000 residents, councils rarely have the technical staff for complex modern services. Proximity to citizens often trades off against administrative capacity. ## Practice questions 7 of this lesson's 13 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app. ### 1. Which follow from the fragmentation of the Spanish local map? A. Provincial councils exist largely to supply capacity small municipalities lack B. Merger proposals recur without being carried through C. Smaller municipalities deliver services more efficiently than larger ones D. Most municipalities cannot employ the specialists a modern service requires **Answer:** A. Provincial councils exist largely to supply capacity small municipalities lack; B. Merger proposals recur without being carried through; D. Most municipalities cannot employ the specialists a modern service requires **Why:** The fourth confuses proximity with capacity. A municipality of eight hundred people is closer to its residents and cannot employ a planner, an engineer or a social services team, which is exactly the gap the provincial councils were built to fill and the reason merger proposals keep returning. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/which-follow-from-the-fragmentation-of-the-spanish-local-map ### 2. Complete the account of local government. **Answer:** Spain has roughly **8,100** municipalities, of which more than four fifths have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. The provincial **councils** are composed indirectly and exist largely to support small municipalities. Services taken on outside a municipality's formal competences are known as **impropias**. The 2013 reform tried to tie competences to demonstrated financial **capacity**. **Why:** The *impropias* in the third blank are the standing problem of Spanish local government. Municipalities provide them because residents need them and nobody else does, and the 2013 attempt to stop it was contested, partly limited by the Constitutional Court, and did not resolve the underlying tension. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/complete-the-account-of-local-government ### 3. Sort each instrument by whether it is MULTILATERAL or BILATERAL. **Answer:** - Multilateral: A sectoral conference of state and community ministers, The Conference of Presidents, A joint plan agreed across all communities - Bilateral: A commission between the state and one community, A negotiated financing arrangement with a single community **Why:** The recurring criticism of Spanish intergovernmental relations is that the second column dominates the first. Bilateral negotiation suits communities with strong bargaining positions and weakens the system's capacity to reach general agreements, though whether that is a design defect or an unavoidable consequence of asymmetry is contested. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/sort-each-instrument-by-whether-it-is-multilateral-or-bilateral ### 4. Approximately how many municipalities does Spain have, to the nearest hundred? **Answer:** 8100 (within ±300) **Why:** About **8,100**, an unusually fragmented map for a country of Spain's population. More than four fifths have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, and that single distributional fact drives the provincial councils, the recurring merger proposals and most of the competence problems in the lesson. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/approximately-how-many-municipalities-does-spain-have-to-the-nearest ### 5. Arrange these levels of Spanish administration from the closest to the citizen to the most remote. **Answer:** 1. The municipality 2. The province 3. The autonomous community 4. The Administración General del Estado **Why:** The ordering is by proximity rather than by power, and the two do not track each other: the level closest to residents has the least fiscal capacity and takes on services outside its competences precisely because it is the one people turn to. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/arrange-these-levels-of-spanish-administration-from-the-closest-to ### 6. The 2013 reform tried to stop municipalities providing services outside their formal competences. Why did the underlying tension survive it? A. The Constitutional Court struck down the entire legislative package as unconstitutional B. Provincial councils immediately transferred their own statutory duties to municipalities C. Bilateral commissions systematically exempted all small municipalities from compliance D. Residents bring needs to the level closest to them, and nobody else was providing those services **Answer:** D. Residents bring needs to the level closest to them, and nobody else was providing those services **Why:** Because the **demand** is unaffected by the legal position. If the competent body is not providing a service, the municipality either provides it without competence or leaves residents without it. The reform was contested and partly limited by the Constitutional Court rather than struck down. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/the-2013-reform-tried-to-stop-municipalities-providing-services ### 7. Proximity to citizens is often contrasted with administrative capacity in Spanish local government. Why does this trade-off make provincial diputaciones essential rather than redundant? A. They supply the technical assistance that tiny town halls cannot sustain B. They replace municipal councils that fail to balance their annual budgets C. They directly deliver the impropias demanded by local community leaders D. They coordinate political consensus across regional sectoral conferences **Answer:** A. They supply the technical assistance that tiny town halls cannot sustain **Why:** Small councils preserve local voice but lack specialised personnel. Diputaciones bridge this resource deficit rather than taking over political autonomy, delivering informal services, or managing multilateral intergovernmental forums. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/political-science-i/local-government-and-intergovernmental-relations/proximity-to-citizens-is-often-contrasted-with-administrative