Introduction

Studies of policy analysis at the local level in Spain emerged in themid-1980s. The first studies were mainly intended to explain local politicalelites, the configuration of local institutional structures after thetransition to democracy (Baras et al, 1988; Botella, 1992; Capo, 1992), andthe political process in the local area (Subirats et al, 1985). Subirats etal (1985) developed one of the first studies of economic and social-economicpolicy initiatives at the local level, even before the passing of the newlaw on local government. In this seminal study, Subirats et al (1985) aimedto ‘consider the current problems of the city and its futureprojection. The development of the city as a milestone imposes a newmentality, a new management and a project for the future’. Thissentence illustrates the political moment. The local arena and localpolicies were still developing, and at the same time, the tools andapproaches of policy analysis also began to yield studies andcontributions.

Local governments were particularly active in the development of policyanalysis with significant differences across policy areas. In some cases,such as policies regarding citizen participation, policy design andimplementation resulted from an open dialogue between local governments andacademia. This collaboration allowed scholars to have direct access to data,politicians, and practitioners, and local governments and institutions alsobenefited from the direct link with academia. This interaction providedinnovative practices, new tools, and narratives and also channelled thetransference of knowledge to the local government network, enabling theelaboration of applied analysis but with an undeniably theoreticaldimension.

Policy analysis at the local level has three main features: (1) in mostcases, policy analysis is the result of an intense and regular collaborationbetween local governments, university scholars, and research institutes,which in some cases are directly incorporated into administrativestructures; (2) most policy analyses follow case studies and qualitativeapproaches in terms of the methodological design – in most cases,these are single case studies based on in-depth interviews and focus groups;and (3) most analyses are focussed on a specific policy area. The particularpolicy area is relevant because it has an impact on the methodologicalapproach.