ABSTRACT
Introduction Spain approved its current constitution in 1978. This led to the decentralization of policies, income sources and responsibilities to lower levels of government: 17 Autonomous Communities or regional government (with varying degrees of power), 52 provinces and 8,114 municipalities which constitute the three main tiers of government in Spain. Today, the multilevel governance that characterizes the Spanish government is under consideration given the serious financial imbalances displayed by both the central government and the Autonomous Communities and municipalities.
