ABSTRACT
The 1978 Constitution that formally ended the period of Francoist dictatorship and ushered in parliamentary democracy in Spain recognized the principle of local self-government, although until the passing of the Basic Law on Local Government in 1985, this principle was not given specific legal content. While this law still forms the legal basis for much local government activity, central government has made successive reforms, particularly since the mid-1990s, generally known as the 'Local Pact'. Conceived as a 'second decentralization' (the first being to the regions), it was designed to provide effective guarantees of local self-government, including a clearer definition of policy powers and improved finance, and to adapt local government in Spain to challenges unforeseen in 1985. Since then, the changing economic paradigm has increasingly forced local governments to build growth coalitions with local stakeholders and to become policy entrepreneurs in the face of increasingly global competition. At the same time, local welfare states have come under increasing strain from phenomena such as immigration, particularly in Spain, where the growth of the immigrant population has outstripped that in almost all other Western states in recent years.
