Decentralization, regional parties, and multilevel governance in Spain

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on parliamentary government and intergovernmental relations by introducing a territorial logic of national minority governance in multilevel states. Spain has 17 powerful regional governments and several regional parties that gain representation at the national and regional levels. The paper evaluates the hypothesis that the governing situation of a regional party at the regional level, specifically the type of governing cabinet to which it belongs or whether it is in opposition, affects its support for a national minority government. Using qualitative interviews and a dataset of national parliamentary alliances in the Spanish Congress during the minority government of Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2008-2011), it finds support for the proposition that regional governing dynamics affect national minority governance; in particular, regional parties governing in minority at the regional level are the regional parties most likely to support a national minority government.