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The Spanish local system rests on two pillars, municipalities and provinces. Lately, as a result of the economic crisis and the fiscal stress that afflicts most Spanish local governments they are forced to rely on inter-municipal cooperation and collaboration. This new local landscape challenges and raises concerns about accountability. Different theories confirm that working with greater transparency helps the effectiveness, efficiency and the control of corruption in the public sector and, in this context, municipalities in Spain have decided that transparency is a fertile ground that is essential to improve performance. This article, based on an analytical revision of the last research, attempts to prove that there has been substantial progress in this regard, although there is still a long road to achieving full open government.

Implementing urban governance strategies to improve local democracy and to regulate local economic growth is an important determinant of effective local administrative change and performance. The underlying hypothesis adopted here is the assumption that the adoption of urban governance processes requires political leadership. It inevitably results in the introduction of innovations within the administrative apparatus in order to improve its performance. Indeed, understanding the interaction between these three aspects (political leadership, urban governance, and administrative modernisation) is of fundamental importance for the effectiveness of most, if not all, policy interventions directed at the introduction of democratic innovations and public administration modernisation initiatives in local governments. To bring out the importance of those interactions, case study1 research is used. Adapted from the source document.