Neoliberalization and governance in cities of the Basque Country

Abstract

Starting from the concept of neoliberalization variations proposed by Brenner and Teodhore (Brenner et al., 2010), this article presents the comparative analysis of the influence of these variations on the governance mechanisms in two cities of the Basque Country: Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastian. The fieldwork of the case studies has been carried out in the context of the TRANSGOB research project led by Ismael Blanco and the results obtained serve to make a retrospective of the scenarios from which the local governments have faced the changes coming from the austerity planning (Peck, 2012). We will pay special attention to the participatory cultures linked to participation, and how these are explanatory filters of the governance mechanisms. Besides, we will put in relation the institutional participatory culture influenced by the networks of urban movements and associative social network, with the management of the increase of the inequality generated by the crisis analyzing the own mechanisms that the Basque jurisdictional framework grants to the cities. Specifically, two issues stand out above the others: the policy on the complementation of social emergency aid and on the enumeration and, therefore, the ability of the immigrant community to access social services. The results, from the point of view of the variations of neoliberalization, warn of the capacity of the Donostia-San Sebastián model to deepen the previously existing participatory dynamics by maintaining a more inclusive model of participation and social policies, as well as the difficulty of the Bilbao model to face the conflict and the increase of inequality indexes.