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Devolution and Local Cohesion Policy: Bureaucratic Obstacles to Policy Integration in Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2015

SERIDA L. CATALANO ,
PAOLO R. GRAZIANO  and
MATTEO BASSOLI
SERIDA L. CATALANO
Affiliation:
Department of Institutional Analysis and Public Management, Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy email: serida.catalano@unibocconi.it
PAOLO R. GRAZIANO
Affiliation:
Department of Institutional Analysis and Public Management, Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy
MATTEO BASSOLI
Affiliation:
School of law, eCampus Online University, Novedrate (CO), Italy
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Abstract

This article analyses and compares the multi-dimensional co-ordination of employment and social policies at the Italian local level, especially focusing on the policy implementation stage. It departs from developing a theoretical framework to take into account the crucial variables that might potentially impact on the co-ordination of social cohesion policies. In particular, following a neo-institutionalist approach, great emphasis is placed on the legacy of the Weberian bureaucratic model, and its implied ‘specialisation ethos’. In addition, the effect of other contextual variables, such us social capital and the rate of unemployment, are considered.

The empirical analysis confirms the crucial impact of the specialisation ethos in preventing inter-policy co-ordination from occurring at the Italian local level, and the relevance of other contextual variables in causing policy integration within services, rather than between services.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 747 - 768
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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