Provisión de servicios públicos en el contexto de la administración local de Espa？a: El papel de los factores políticos institucionales y la externalización de los gobiernos locales

this article aims to contribute to the academic debate on local public services delivery, focusing on the role of institutional and managerial factors in a non-anglo-saxon public administration. in a context of a european continental administrative tradition, an analysis of all the municipalities with up to 5 000 inhabitants in catalonia, a spanish autonomous community, provides evidence supporting the relevance of management issues in accounting for outsourcing (externalisation). the lack of influence of party government ideology contrasts with the influence of city managers and the use of outsourcing as a strategy to counter rigidities in human resource management.