Municipal size and institutional support as differential elements in the implementation of freedom of information legislation by local government

Abstract

The aim of this article is to contribute to the literature on the implementation of worldwide freedom of information (FOI) laws, as observed in Spanish local governments, by hypothesizing and obtaining empirical evidence that municipal size and institutional support are differentiating elements in the implementation process. This evidence also reveals that factors such as municipal budget surplus, low levels of borrowing, the brevity of time elapsed from promulgation of the law to its implementation and political support from the mayor’s office are all positively associated with the level of institutional support for local governments’ implementation of FOI laws.