Institutional transparency policies and gender: determinants and key factors

The Spanish municipal system is often described as a primarily presidential model, emphasizing the unique role of mayors in local councils. However, this characterisation tend to underestimate the fact that the shape of the institutional structure of municipalities in Spain can be deeply modified by local councils. This capacity allows a profound adaptation of the relationship between the executive, legislative and administrative branches. This fact offers an interesting opportunity to analyse whether there has been an effective change in the form these branches connect and interact; its extent and main characteristics; and whether it is possible to identify explanatory elements. This paper focuses firstly on determining whether the mere fact of the existence of a general authorization to alter the framework can lead to an effective modification of the institutional setting. It is also interesting to explore the extent of these changes and whether the municipalities have generated different patterns, considering that context factors, such as party system, electoral process, and legal requirements, remain stable and controlled. This paper explores the movement of functions and the original and final institutional positions of each government branch. Finally, an analysis is developed with the aim of identifying the consequences of these adaptations for institutional performance, especially concerning stability and the determinant elements of the forms of government and the patterns of homogeneity and heterogeneity. The particular characteristics of the Spanish municipal map and the local legal framework offer especially positive conditions for the analysis. The fact of being able to work with a large number of municipalities, which are all under the same external conditions and can effectively develop different behaviours, makes many analytical opportunities possible. This permits the study of the relations between a particular setting and its characterizing and explanatory elements.