Abstract
This paper reviews the most important characteristics and of the Spanish Intergovernmental Councils (IGCs) and theorizes about the effect of the increasing fragmentation of the party system on the nature and dynamics of multilateral bargaining in IGCs. The essential argument is that party system fragmentation may have an impact on IGCs through its effect on the formation of minority and coalition governments. These types of governments may put an end to the two-bloc confrontation, bring to the system higher levels of party congruence between levels of government and lower the costs of compromise, three factors that may help to grease the bargaining process and, in turn, enhance the achievement of intergovernmental cooperation agreements. The positive effect will be conditional on several factors, namely the ideological coherence of inter-party alliances, the predominant type of government in the system (coalition or single-party minority) and the duration of governments.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 645-665 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Regional & Federal Studies |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 4 Aug 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Oct 2017 |
Bibliographical note
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for detailsKeywords
- Intergovernmental councils
- Spain
- intergovernmental relations
- state of autonomies