Towards upright city halls: Mechanisms of corruption at the local level in Spain

Abstract

A considerable amount of literature points to the fact that corruption is especially relevant at the local level of government in several countries. However, academia has not paid sufficient attention to the factors that can explain variation in local corruption, at least compared to corruption at the country level. This research aims to shine new light on the debate around the explanatory factors of local corruption in Spain and explore the causal mechanisms behind these factors. Departing from the assertion that anti-corruption norms and regulations are mostly homogeneous at the regional or state levels, I show evidence of which demographic, political and economic factors can facilitate corruption in cities and towns. The study uses a mixed methods research approach based on a statistical analysis of different variables that the literature has found to be related to local corruption and, based on these results, a qualitative comparative analysis of corruption in six cities. The results of the research suggest that longevity in the local government of the same party and strong leadership mayors are risk factors for corruption, as much as a high dependence of the city council on the construction and real estate sectors. The analysis also indicates that anti-corruption controls could be failing in small municipalities, especially when there is a lack of alternation in power. These findings have implications for future anti-corruption strategies. In particular, they may help policymakers to increase the efficiency of public integrity tools by considering these risk factors and reviewing which controls are failing in specific contexts.