The Spanish political structure is akin to a decentralised unitary

state, not a federation

Spain has 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities; Each autonomous community has its own executive, legislative and
judicial powers, which are similar but not the same

The The Judicial • The State has exclusive right to regulate matters pertaining to the
The Parliament
Government System structure and coordination of the public health system
• In the event of an emergency, the MPH has the authority to
The Executive Branch The Legislative Branch The Legislative Branch
coordinate international transit that could affect the health of
Organizes the country’s ideas Develops the laws proposed Monitor's if the laws people
and laws By the government are followed • Politicians in the Catalan and Basque regions — where there have
been strong independence movements — have insisted that the
state of emergency should not be used to take over their specific
regional powers, which include running their own police forces and
managing hospitals
• The region of Catalonia and Basque Country continue to resist the
centralisation of power and competencies derived from the
PM (President of Behalf of the decreed state of emergency
the Govt.), The Congress The Senate king-
Council of Judges &
Ministers Magistrates
Context surrounding political institutions effect on policy responses
Due to the autonomous political structure and decentralised

01 power, policy making across the nation has wide regional

differences which lack unison and cohesion

The institutions are more responding to the demands of super

02 national and international institutions such as World Bank,

EU, etc. than to the citizens needs

03
Citizens are not included in policy making; so real problems
facing people often don’t get fully represented

No empirical research or data is used in policy formulation.

04 Often, politicians and experts have different opinions due to

vested political interests resulting in policy ambiguity

High institutional distrust owing to Inadequate evaluation of

05 socio-economic conditions and the lack of targeted and

coordinated policy response during such crises
How societal context manifests itself in policy responses through
political institutions
Lack of Trust

High Autonomy
• Spaniards have high level of freedom of expression; free movement is common
and enforcing a lockdown can happen only if police patrol the streets
• They are most reluctant to give gifts/cash to public officials for ruling

Lack of Trust
Public-Govt Discord

• High perception of corruption- 95% of the population believe it to be widespread

High Autonomy
• 2/3 businesses succeeding only due to political connections
• Gradual public erosion of trust in the government and justice system

Public-Govt Discord
• A paranoia stemming back to Spain’s decades-long dictatorship created
a palpable friction between the public and law enforcement
• Perceived as unresponsive to citizens demands

Attitude
• Deteriorating of economic conditions and welfare of the state has created a
negative attitude of people towards the government

Attitude
Mapping out the various government responses to COVID-19
outbreak in Spain
Outbreak National Emergency Doubling Down
Spain now has the world’s Spain declared the state of Police and drones patrol the
third largest Covid-19 emergency on March 14 and streets to keep pedestrians
outbreak and is second only the Parliament extended it at home with the PM citing
to Italy in all of Europe with until April 12, including the social distancing as the only
102,136 cases. lockdown way to contain the outbreak

Nationalization of Hospitals Conversion for Wards Economic Consequences Political Roadblocks

The Minister of Health declared
nationalisation- all private health
providers and infrastructure
would be temporarily taken over
in the interest of the national
healthcare system.
In Madrid, an ice rink has
been converted into a
morgue and Real Madrid’s
stadium would be used to
store medical supplies.
The closure of restaurants, bars While Spain has a national
and hotels will put a strain on health care system, each of the
Spain's tourism industry which 17 regions administer it
accounts for 12 percent of GDP separately, causing coordination
and 13 percent of employment issues and leaving doctors ill-
supplied to provide care

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

Restrictions Global Plea Disarray among Citizens Panic

Only people working in sectors
assuring basic state functions
such as health, security,
energy, telecommunications,
food and medical supplies can
go out to work.
Lockdown & Extension
To stop the spread, the
government — slow to respond
to the crisis — imposed a
country-wide lockdown only
recently, extending it citing acute
shortage of medical supplies.
Spain has ordered $471.4 For a country like Spain Supermarkets have reported
million of goods from China, where life is lived outside in panic buying and shortages
asked NATO for help and bars, restaurants or on the on essential items of pasta,
pledged to support factories beaches, the lockdown is rice and toilet rolls.
adapting their production proving difficult for citizens
lines to make goods more at
home
Military Imposition Recession Forecasts
Soldiers drafted in to Economists predict the
help Spain tackle the coronavirus Spanish economy, which
pandemic by disinfecting and had been expected to grow
running residential homes have by 1.7 percent this year, will
found a number of elderly people plunge into recession.
abandoned and dead in their beds