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The aim of this article is to contrast an empirical study on the changes in the attitudes and behaviors of local politicians with recent literature on local governance. To undertake this task, the article brings together the results of about two hundred in‐depth interviews with local councillors from nine Catalan local councils over two different periods of time: 1986–1987 and 1998–1999. Through comparison with the results of the interviews carried out in the '80s and '90s, the work confirms a tendency toward change, which with a few slight adjustments, can be made to fit with those academic contributions that claim the appearance of certain strategic, pluralist, and relational styles of government.

Advisory councils exist at diverse government levels, making them especially appropriate to address the discussion about scaling up participatory institutions, by comparing their differences across different government levels. We analyze the characteristics of advisory councils in Spain, where they are quite similar at the national, regional, and local levels, allowing a controlled comparison of their functioning and results. Results show similarities across territorial levels and also signs of a better performance of the local and regional ones, especially regarding the satisfaction of participants. Relational goods and different understandings of what policy influence means are crucial explanations of these patterns.

Situados en un contexto de creciente complejidad, los pequeños municipios se ven sometidos a la necesidad de aprovechar su potencial innovador. A partir de estas premisas, el artículo analiza empíricamente seis municipios de la provincia de Girona, y se pregunta hasta qué punto los pequeños municipios, a pesar de su fragilidad ejecutiva, deberían ser espacios privilegiados para promover políticas públicas innovadoras. Los casos analizados muestran la voluntad de los pequeños municipios de responder a los retos de la crisis, pero sus respuestas tienen un perfil bajo desde la óptica de la innovación. Un potencial que no acaba de materializarse.

A Deliberative Public Administration is a political commitment to progressive and progressive transformation of public administration, especially in countries like Brazil, whose accumulated experiments of citizen participation has excelled around the world. Therefore, it is argued in favor of social participation as a method of government, seeking to defuse some of the propositions often used to minimize or even ridicule the social participation in government processes. Additionally, the need to reinvent democracy defends itself, warning of the bankruptcy of the traditional ways of doing politics and, consequently, the inability of the current government to govern, and citizens to govern their own governments. Hence the need to regain good policy as a way to overcome the moral barbarism that took account of political relations and the government itself in Brazil and worldwide. Finally, it is to develop new administrative capabilities so that governments are able to better communicate your plans, goals and objectives, both internally, as in society. Therefore, the text establishes the reasons for the proposed new governance of public affairs: i) less specialization and more creativity; ii) less data and more philosophy; iii) less inbreeding and further diversity. In short, betting on relational skills (of technopolitical nature) of new generations of leaders and public servants in training, but also in institutional learning capacity due to both the collective intelligence already installed in our public offices as of participatory and deliberative practices already in use inside the same.

The first river basin management plans under the Water Framework Directive have been adopted in Spain recently. For thus, there are no studies evaluating the results of the participatory processes carried out. This article discusses a participatory experience that has been considered a good practice: the deliberative process of River Basin Management planning in Catalonia. We are interested on the consequences of deliberation and, more specifically, we want to know if a good deliberative process improves water policy. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data obtained from documentary analysis and thirty interviews, we investigate the relationship between the procedural features of deliberation and its results. The limitations of the communication strategy, the lack of comprehensiveness with which water policy planning has been made and the lack of a deliberative political culture are some of the weaknesses identified in the case study. We conclude that a good deliberative process is a necessary but not a sufficient requierement to ensure a significant impact on water policy. ; Los primeros planes de cuenca previstos en la Directiva Marco del Agua fueron aprobados en España muy recientemente, motivo por el cual todavía no disponemos de estudios que evalúen los resultados de los procesos participativos llevados a cabo. En este artículo se analiza una experiencia participativa que, por su carácter ejemplar y atípico, ha sido considerada una buena práctica: el proceso deliberativo del Distrito de Cuenca Fluvial de Cataluña. Nos interrogamos sobre las consecuencias de la deliberación y, más concretamente, sobre si un buen proceso de deliberación mejora la política de aguas. Es decir, investigamos la relación entre las características procedimentales de la deliberación y sus resultados. Para ello combinamos datos cuantitativos con información cualitativa obtenida a partir de análisis documental y treinta entrevistas en profundidad. Las limitaciones de la estrategia comunicativa, la poca integralidad con la que ...

Los primeros planes de cuenca previstos en la Directiva Marco del Agua fueron aprobados en España muy recientemente, motivo por el cual todavía no disponemos de estudios que evalúen los resultados de los procesos participativos llevados a cabo. En este artículo se analiza una experiencia participativa que, por su carácter ejemplar y atípico, ha sido considerada una buena práctica: el proceso deliberativo del Distrito de Cuenca Fluvial de Cataluña. Nos interrogamos sobre las consecuencias de la deliberación y, más concretamente, sobre si un buen proceso de deliberación mejora la política de aguas. Es decir, investigamos la relación entre las características procedimentales de la deliberación y sus resultados. Para ello combinamos datos cuantitativos con información cualitativa obtenida a partir de análisis documental y treinta entrevistas en profundidad. Las limitaciones de la estrategia comunicativa, la poca integralidad con la que se planifica la política de aguas y la falta de una cultura política deliberativa son algunas de las debilidades identificadas en el caso estudiado. Concluimos que un buen proceso deliberativo es una condición necesaria pero no suficiente para garantizar un impacto significativo sobre la política de aguas. ; The first river basin management plans under the Water Framework Directive have been adopted in Spain recently. For thus, there are no studies evaluating the results of the participatory processes carried out. This article discusses a participatory experience that has been considered a good practice: the deliberative process of River Basin Management planning in Catalonia. We are interested on the consequences of deliberation and, more specifically, we want to know if a good deliberative process improves water policy. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data obtained from documentary analysis and thirty interviews, we investigate the relationship between the procedural features of deliberation and its results. The limitations of the communication strategy, the lack of comprehensiveness with which water policy planning has been made and the lack of a deliberative political culture are some of the weaknesses identified in the case study. We conclude that a good deliberative process is a necessary but not a sufficient requierement to ensure a significant impact on water policy.

La democracia ha sido aquello que nos ha permitido vivir juntos siendo diferentes -escribía el filósofo Daniel Innerarity-, pero nada nos garantiza que pueda seguir desarrollando esta crucial función en el futuro. Hemos de prepararnos para tiempos turbulentos y hemos de trabajar para que estas turbulencisa no arrasen con los principios de igualdad y libertad que caracterizan el ideal democrático. Tenemos que ganar el futuro y, para ello, este texto pretende ayudar desde el conocimiento del presente, aportando una reflexión pausada y esperanzada. De la Introducción de Joaquín Brugué, Simone Martins y Carmen Pineda Nebot