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Rural and Urban Sub-municipal Governance in Spain: The Contrasting Worlds of Lilliput and Brobdingnag

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Book cover Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe

Part of the book series: Governance and Public Management ((GPM))

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Abstract

This contribution analyzes the two types of sub-municipal units of government in Spain. The typical units in rural areas (EATIMs) and those implemented in big cities (districts) express specific answers to different circumstances. While the first are the consequence of historically rooted institutions that have evolved up to the present without much change, the second emerged recently to give an answer to the functioning of big cities trying to put local democracy closer to citizens by decentralizing tasks and implementing citizens’ participation mechanisms. The chapter explores their contrasting origins, legal framework, functioning, election and representation systems, transferred tasks, and financial systems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In fact, several sections of the law are under consideration by the Constitutional Court. From a practical point of view, according to research conducted by the Carles Pi i Sunyer Foundation in Catalonia, the vast majority of municipalities did not implement the content of the reform. For more information: http://pisunyer.org/observatori-de-govern-local/projectes/catalunya/2014.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Autonoma of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen Navarro

  2. University of Barcelona I Fundaci6 Carles Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain

    Esther Pano

Authors
  1. Carmen Navarro
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  2. Esther Pano
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Nikolaos-Komninos Hlepas

  2. Department of Political Science, University of MĂĽnster, MĂĽnster, Germany

    Norbert Kersting

  3. Political Science, Public Administration and Organization, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Sabine Kuhlmann

  4. Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Pawel Swianiewicz

  5. Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Filipe Teles

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Navarro, C., Pano, E. (2018). Rural and Urban Sub-municipal Governance in Spain: The Contrasting Worlds of Lilliput and Brobdingnag. In: Hlepas, NK., Kersting, N., Kuhlmann, S., Swianiewicz, P., Teles, F. (eds) Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64725-8_11

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