Analysing the Policy Process in Democratic Spain

Abstract: Many studies of the policy process in Spain use distinct periods as an organising framework for analysis, and this approach implies that the process itself changes according to the different periods in question. However, we argue that this 'periodisation' approach fails to draw an appropriate distinction between policy choices and outcomes, on the one hand, and the policy process on the other. Whereas different policy choices may of course have very different consequences, these choices may not result from different processes: the outcomes should be distinguished from the causes. In seeking to explain the policy process, as opposed to policy choices and outcomes, this paper emphasises the need to look at institutional factors - in particular, the institutional design of contemporary Spanish democracy and Spain's economic model as the core explanatory variables. Only in this way can an account be provided which accommodates both core stable characteristics of the policy process as well as short-term variations in policy choices and outcome both across time and across different sectors.