Spain: Local Democracy and Citizen Participation

Abstract

This article focuses its attention on the democratic practice of local governments, taking the Spanish experience within its European context as the main point of reference. The analysis of democratic practice in local governments takes into consideration not only the collective decision-making processes, but also the real possibilities of citizen participation, assessing the urban model they lead to in the medium to long term. Such an analysis could help to determine if cities are moving towards more democratic and egalitarian forms of social organisation. Large urban projects in Spain have not been debated and agreed upon previously despite the fact that such works have a transcendental impact of the lives of millions of citizens. Simultaneously, different local authorities have put into place new experiences of participative government since the late 1990s, arising from a shared diagnosis indicating the existence of a democratic deficit that should be overcome.

This stay was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Programa de estancias de profesores de Universidad en centros de enseñanza superior y de investigación. Reference: PR2004-0374). The author wishes to thank Professor C. H. Pickvance and the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research for their helpful support on his research and warm treatment.

Notes

1. Democracy and decentralisation have frequently been identified as if both notions were necessarily tied together. This relationship, however, is not so immediate. As Pickvance asserts, local government is not inherently more democratic than central government: “to decentralise functions to local government is not necessarily to increase democracy. Deciding it does so or not depends on a detailed knowledge of the working of both levels of government” (Pickvance, 1997, p. 133).

2. Vainer (2000) highlights the changes in the debates concerning the so-called urban question. The main discussions previously centred around aspects such as disorderly growth, reproducing the workforce, collective consumption facilities, social movements and land use. Today, however, the new urban question would focus on urban competitiveness.

3. An analysis of the evolution of the city of Buenos Aires from this standpoint can be found in Díaz Orueta and Lourés (2003).

4. The very complexity of the urban sphere impedes an overall reading from this single viewpoint. Not everything in the city is a space for consumption, passivity or the predominance of the private sphere over the public sphere.

5. According to Vainer (2000, pp. 77–78), the discourse of strategic planning is organised around three main axes: the city–company, the city–merchandise and the city–fatherland. The author defines this three-fold dimension starting off from a systematic analysis of a significant number of strategic plans and the texts drafted by their main promoters, contrasting the efficacy of each of these analogies in the building of a city project.

6. It is not unknown that a plurality of interests may hide behind a term so vague as the ‘private sector’. For instance, specific representatives of the local private sector (small retailers, etc.) can play very different roles and even contrasting roles from those of large corporations or the most important companies involved in the real estate industry.

7. In the wake of the controversial results of the Barcelona Fòrum of 2004, other events are being announced in different Spanish cities that serve to justify spectacular urban operations. This is the case for Valencia with the America's Cup (2007) and Zaragoza with the 2008 World Expo.

8. For example, see Díaz Orueta (2004) on the recent evolution of the Costa Blanca in Spain.

9. See Imrie and Thomas (1999) for urban policy in the UK and, more specifically, on the creation of the Urban Development Corporations.

10. The first democratic local elections after more than 40 years were held in 1979. Most of the large local authorities were won by centre-left or leftist parties (PSOE—Spanish Socialist Party, PCE—Spanish Communist Party, or both jointly). The 1991 local elections signalled a change of course given that conservative parties significantly increased their percentage of the vote and won important local governments. This trend was subsequently consolidated in the 1995 elections. Even after the last local elections held in 2003, the PP (Popular Party) maintained its hold over large cities like Madrid, Valencia and Malaga.

11. ‘Democracy and Local Governance in Spain’, directed by Professor Marisol García (Universidad de Barcelona), in which the author of this text took part as a researcher. This study was funded by the InterMinisterial Commission on Science and Technology (CICYT—Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología). Reference: SEC95-1576.

12. In all, 450 local leaders in 30 Spanish towns and cities and 15 regions were interviewed. The cities chosen had a population of between 25 000 and 200 000 inhabitants.

13. On 21 November 2004, the Spanish newspaper El País commemorated 25 years of democratic local governments in Spain by publishing a debate among the mayors of Madrid (Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, PP), Barcelona (Joan Clos, PSC-PSOE—Catalan Socialist Party), Valencia (Rita Barberá, PP), Córdoba (Rosa Aguilar, IU—United Left) and A Coruña (Francisco Vázquez, PsdeG–PSOE—Galician Socialist Party). The latter was additionally the Chairman of the Spanish Federation of Local Authorities and Provinces (FEMP). Despite their different political affiliations, all the local politicians coincided in calling for an improvement in the mechanisms to finance budgets in order to deal satisfactorily with the management of the competencies that local authorities had taken on. In Spain in 2004, the central administration accounted for 53 per cent of public expenditure while the regions accounted for 33.9 per cent and local authorities for 13.1 per cent.

14. Especially in Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country.

15. Among the abundant recent Spanish bibliography analysing these new social movements, see for instance: Fernández Durán, Etxezarreta and Saéz (2001); Fernández Buey (2004); and Grau and Ibarra (2004).

16. See Pickvance (2003) on the recent evolution of social urban movements.

17. Examples include the enlargement of large infrastructure (highways, airports, high-speed railways, etc.), the building of large shopping centres and the development of new real estate projects.

18. Pineda (2004) lists the following local authorities: Córdoba, Albacete, Rubí, San Sebastián, Getafe, Algete, Cabezas de San Juan, Puente Genil, Jerez de la Frontera and Seville.

19. This should not, however, lead us to think that the local tier of government is necessarily more democratic than central or regional tiers.

20. The nature of state intervention has changed. State actions are increasingly aimed at favouring the conditions that supposedly ensure more economic growth, leaving redistributive social policies in the background. As was indicated earlier when reflecting on experiences such as that of London's Docklands, the state has declared a firm interest in reinforcing the actions of private investment. This supposes immediate economic profits for specific social groups that are closely linked to expanding sectors (managers, professionals, etc.) and the decline of sectors of the working class within a context of increasing precariousness in the labour market.

21. In the text quoted, the authors present the results of a comparative research project entitled ESOPO (Evaluation of Social Policies at the Local Urban Level: Income Support for the Able-bodied) led by C. Sarraceno. The results of this study can also be seen in García, 2004. Thirteen European cities and six countries were studied. Barcelona and Vitoria were analysed in Spain. These are very interesting examples that are, however, exceptional cases in Spain. Hence, the study's results do not allow us to draw valid conclusions about the whole country.

22. Hence, the analysis and assessment of integrated research plans on specific neighbourhoods is an extremely interesting field of research. Said actions, which are present under different action modalities in most European countries, represent an attempt to intervene on the territory on an overall basis (Lourés, 2003).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fernando Díaz Orueta

This article was written while the author was a Visiting Lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent at Canterbury, academic year 2004/05. Fax: [phone].