Intermunicipal Cooperation

Abstract

Cooperation and intermunicipalism are two essential concepts in the study of the current reality of local governments in Spain. Taking into account the complex territorial organization of the state and analyzing the current political-administrative framework, it is increasingly necessary to find mechanisms for intergovernmental and administrative relations that allow us to respond to the needs of citizens with greater dynamism. The traditional "subjective" analysis, in which each municipality represents a unit that manages the common good in a grouped manner, has been left behind and new "functional" formulas are imposed, in which these municipalities no longer work in isolation, but in relation to others based on criteria of necessity and opportunity. Moreover, this intermunicipal cooperation can take place in a variety of forms, types and legal regulations. The chapter analyzes its viability in light of the major systemic challenges that occur at this level of government, such as the hyperfragmentation and dispersion of local government, the chronic insufficiency of local entities to ensure the provision of their public services after multiple legal reforms, and the social commitments that are established in a context of multilevel governance. It lists some of the political challenges posed by inter-municipal cooperation formulas such as the opacity of their structures, the dilution of political responsibility for the management of public services or the lack of direct democratic legitimacy, among others. The chapter ends with some recommendations on how these relations can be addressed from our institutional framework, with special reference to the geographical and demographic problems derived from the configuration of the Spanish local structure.