Manuel Villoria

(Un)sustainable territories: causes of the speculative bubble in Spain (1996–2010) and its territorial, environmental, and sociopolitical consequences

In this paper we analyse the causes of the Spanish property model and its territorial, social, and political consequences. Particular attention is paid to sociopolitical contexts. These consequences include excessive dependence on economic activity and employment in the housing construction sector, the irreversible disappearance of landmarks in the countrys collective history and culture, and examples of ‘policy capture’, especially at local and regional levels. This lengthy process has led to corruption in town planning and an increase in poor policy decisions, greatly harming Spains reputation.

Building Local Integrity Systems in Southern Europe: the case of urban local corruption in Spain

From 1997 to 2007, Spain suffered from major cases of political corruption associated with local urban development. To analyse their causes, this article examines the institutional mechanisms designed to monitor and control the performance of local policy-makers and to ensure they operated independently from private influence. It also analyses their actual effectiveness with reference to particular cases of local corruption unveiled during that decade. The Spanish case shows that local representatives had a large amount of power in distributing financial gains within the municipality, but faced little pressure to account for their actions. It argues that insufficient control mechanisms on the activities of local representatives from 1997 to 2007 can adequately explain the intensity and spread of local corruption in Spain. Points for practitioners The article contributes to a better understanding of the factors and the causes that explain local corruption, particularly in countries where local governments fit with the ‘strong-mayor’ type. Following the Local Integrity System framework, it provides a strategy to analyse the role and impact of control mechanisms, distinguishing between internal and external controls, and administrative and judicial controls. The article also helps to understand, and presents evidence of, the mismatch between ‘formal’ institutional mechanisms on the one hand, and their actual implementation and effects on the other.

Integrity Systems, Values, and Expectations: Explaining Differences in the Extent of Corruption in Three Spanish Local Governments

Our article attempts to explain the differences in the extent of corruption related to urban planning in three Spanish local settings, all of them being important touristic resorts: Marbella, a municipality in the Costa del Sol with a very high level of corruption; Lanzarote, in the Canary islands with a high incidence of corruption despite its pioneering role in establishing innovative policies to limit urban (touristic) growth; and Menorca, in the Balearic Islands where corruption has been very low. We argue that the explanations focusing on the different features of the local integrity systems (LISs) face difficulties to account for the variations in the incidence of corruption across these Spanish municipalities: despite some interesting differences, the LIS of the cases considered is basically quite similar. Thus, we turn to the analysis of social values and social expectations on the political system by local citizens, testing whether a different set of citizens’ values and expectations on the behavior of local decision makers may explain this local variation in corruption practices. The article presents the results of a public opinion survey on values and expectations administered in the three cases. Against our expectations and the literature on the topic, no significant difference in shared social values and expectations has been found. The article shows that, as for an empirically tested explanation of the cross-local variations in the degree of urban corruption in Spain, the jury is still out.

Understanding and addressing citizens’ perceptions of corruption: the case of Spain

Current theories and approaches to study and combat corruption have questionable applicability in countries with low systemic corruption and high perceptions of corruption. Further, the circular nature of corruption requires a more nuanced understanding of the complexities involved. We argue that understanding the determinants of perceptions of corruption, defined in more refined ways, holds promise in suggesting solutions for reducing corruption. To that end, we developed a model that seeks to answer two important questions: (1) what factors influence citizen perceptions of corruption, and how do they differ in relation to two different sets of government actors? And (2) in what ways might factors affecting perceptions of corruption interact to yield moderated relationships? Using the responses to a survey from 2500 citizens in Spain in 2009, we tested the model and found that personal characteristics, attitudes and media exposure have predicted differences in accounting for perceptions of corruption for different government actors. Beyond these direct findings, analysis of interactions of these explanatory factors revealed moderated relationships that have additional implications for public administrators and scholars interested in curbing corruption.

Ética postconvencional e instituciones en el servicio público (Postconventional Ethics and Institutions in the Public Service)

Resumen es: En un momento en que las reformas tendentes a mejorar la integridad de las instituciones publicas se han puesto de moda, en este articulo se defiende que...