In Spain, the territorial and social inequalities derived from infra-municipalism, from the processes of concentration-urbanization that have generated demographic peripheries, from the negative impacts of the economic crisis unleashed in 2008, from the effects of restrictive fiscal policies and their concomitant austerity policies that have especially affected the Local Public Sector, and, within this, the small municipalities in depopulated areas, are evident in terms of various demographic, health, educational, employment and economic indicators, among others. In order to account for and address the negative implications in terms of inequality and social exclusion that such processes entail, now increased by the COVID-19 pandemic, both public and private actors and civil society itself need to urgently and effectively develop institutional capacity initiatives to implement territory-based partnerships and design strategies that democratically mobilize local governments to develop, implement and adapt social and territorial cohesion policies. Using a methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, this paper will use a representative sample of local governments to study the multilevel governance processes that affect the design of public development policies in small Spanish rural municipalities (more than 80% of the total municipalities in Spain). This will allow us to identify, study and evaluate how multi-level coordination processes are institutionalized between the different administrative levels and economic and social agents aimed at the management of territorial and social capital through different formal and informal mechanisms (instruments, procedures, agreements, etc.), as well as the values, norms and behavioural criteria that are applied.
