This chapter evaluates rural policy in Spain with focus on its institutional setting and governance framework. Section 2.1 provides a summary of the evolution of the approach to rural policy in Spain from the post civil war period to our days. Section 2.2 analyses the institutions, policies and budgets oriented to the development of rural areas, first discussing EU rural development programmes (Section 2.2.1) and then focusing on the LEADER programme (and its Spanish counterpart, PRODER), which is the core instrument of rural development policy in a narrow sense. Section 2.2.2 addresses the broad rural policy instruments derived from the new Law on Sustainable Development of Rural Areas at the time that this law starts to be applied, and draws conclusions on its implications for the future.