The analysis of intergovernmental relations within the autonomous Basque community: The introduction to a case study on the subject of social action

The process of public policy making involves different levels of government administrative organs and other interests affected by it. One of the essential aspects of the implementation process of public policies is that of intergovernmental relations as, in many cases, the central government’s policies are put into practice, not only by territorial government agencies, but also by regional and local government. Undoubtedly the particularity of the autonomous Basque Community’s administrative system, in which intergovernmental relations are the key to its functioning, make it deal to observe and also to draw conclusions about the working relationships between different levels of the administration and other organizations of a private nature which can then be applied to the solution of programmes and social policies. In this way one attempts to detect possible institutional, political and administrative obstacles which hold back the development of coordination and cooperation and may finally determine the failure or inefficiency of public action.