Multilevel Governance in Spain

Abstract

Multilevel governance challenges some of the essential mechanisms that make democratic accountability work. On the one hand, citizens may struggle to assign responsibility for policy outcomes when powers are fragmented between different levels of government. On the other hand, in light of this institutional complexity, citizens may resort more frequently to their cognitive biases—such as partisanship—to assign credit and blame for policy outcomes. This chapter delves into the accountability challenges of multilevel governance in Spain. It explores the level of knowledge of Spanish citizens about who is responsible for what, and the variation over time and across regions of the assignment of responsibility for policy outcomes to different levels of government. We also analyse the biases in the attribution of responsibility, as well as the preferences about multilevel governance in Spain.