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This paper analyses the validity of the second-order model in the 2019 municipal elections. We focus, first, on the theoretical evolution that has transformed the model proposed by Reif and Schmitt (1980). Second, it evaluates the explanatory capacity of a model that does not fit with highly fragmented and heterogeneous units of analysis. Finally, a contextual analysis is presented to provide a more robust explanation of the 2019 Spanish municipal election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common argument for the public funding of parties is that it avoids parties' dependence on interest groups to pay for their routine and campaign expenses. This paper examines the relationship between the public financing of parties and rent seeking activities, setting it in the context of the party funding reforms passed by the Spanish parliament in 2007 and 2012. Since the enacted reforms did not constraint the power of officeholders to create and distribute political rents, we should not expect a decline in the resources that the private sector commits to capture those rents. However, due to the new subsidies created by the reform laws to pay for the running expenses of parties, a greater share of the illegal funds originating in the political rent creation process may be transferred from parties' coffers to the politicians who take the decisions that generate those rents. The thesis of this paper is that public subsidies to parties have curbed neither their illegal financing nor political corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local women's councils are strategic places to channel women's participation and demands in order to promote gender policies at the local level. Nevertheless, as well as other participatory mechanisms, their dynamics could be biased according to participant's characteristics and the institutional agenda of local government. In this paper we try to show evidences about theses bias trough a survey carry out among women's associations in five Spanish cities. Results show that the participatory dynamic of local women's councils produces two kind of bias: an inclusiveness bias according to the traits of women's organizations, favouring those more oriented towards political activism; and a substantive bias according to the issues discussed, favouring those close to the local government agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political corruption is a key theoretical issue regarding the quality of democracy. And it was a main theme from the empirical point of view during the last Spanish local elections, held on May 27, 2007. This paper focuses upon the electoral behaviour of foreigners on that occasion and aims to know whether and to what extent corruption mobilized those citizens. Data confirm that there is a relationship between public charges of political corruption and electoral mobilization, but this is not enough as to affect election results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on analysis of public opinion towards European integration in Greece, Portugal and Spain, countries known for their positive attitudes toward integration. In particular, the article analyses how public attitudes towards Europe have been formed in these countries. Secondly, it examines the determining factors of citizens' positive attitudes toward integration and shows the types of variables that are essential to understanding the differences between Greeks, Spaniards and the Portuguese. It also examines traditional euro-optimism in these southern countries. The findings show the relevance of identity and the various impacts of party platforms and ideology in attitudes of support for European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to shed new light on the causes of split-ticket voting in concurrent multi-level national and regional elections held under PR electoral rules. Up to now, differences in electoral outcomes in Spanish concurrent elections have been understood as a product of the mechanisms associated with second order elections. Evidence against this interpretation is presented, and alternative explanations from the international literature are tested. We find that, on one hand, Andalusian intrablock and regionalist ticket-splitters weigh their national and regional electoral choices differently: While in the national arena ideology is the main predictor of electoral behavior, at the regional level ticket-splitters tend to cross ideological lines and vote based on the performance of regional politicians or a preference for local leaders. On the other hand, interblock ticket-splitters seem to balance their votes ideologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]