Regional cooperation in times of crisis

Lessons learned from the COVID19 pandemic

Authors

  • Maribel González Pascual Universitat Pompeu Fabra

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.210.10

Abstract

The COVID19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented health and socioeconomic crisis. Against this background of uncertainty, public administrations deployed all their resources. Federal and Regional States could rely on their innate flexibility, provided that intergovernmental relations (RIGs) were particularly tight. Spain was not alien to these challenges. Still, the well-known flaws of the Spanish RIGs and the uncertainty that characterised the COVID19 first wave, derived in a strong centralization at the beginning of the pandemic. Nonetheless, this initial centralization was soon replaced by stronger RIGs and a nuanced heterogeneity in the measures taken to tackle the crisis. Currently, the RIGs are more important that in the decade before the pandemic. Legislative reforms have been adopted enshrining good practices of the RIGs during the pandemic. Unluckily enough, the Conference of Presidents has lost its prominent role becoming a forum for political confrontation.

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Published

2025-12-02

How to Cite

González Pascual, M. (2025). Regional cooperation in times of crisis: Lessons learned from the COVID19 pandemic. Revista De Estudios Políticos, (210), 305–324. https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.210.10

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Section

MONOGRAPH