Beyond Identities: Support for Decentralisation Across Regions in Spain

After thirty years of the Spanish territorial model being implemented, an important number of citizens in different regions are supporting higher levels of self-government. This article analyses the causal mechanisms put forward by the literature on territorial decentralisation to explain this phenomenon. The Spanish case is employed to quantitatively test the various explanations regarding support for decentralisation. Using a linear hierarchical model we show that, even in those regions without a different sub-national identity, citizens’ evaluation of the regional governments’ public policies is crucial in explaining support for a stronger regional government. In analysing political attitudes towards decentralisation, we highlight the importance of party competition as a crucial determinant, as well as the necessity to consider decentralisation as an endogenous process, in which parties and citizens interact and affect the final territorial model.