Giulio Citroni

Remapping the State: Inter-Municipal Cooperation through Corporatisation and Public-Private Governance Structures

Abstract The institutional setting of regional and local government in Italy appears to be characterised by an ongoing process of reform and adjustment ever since Regions were created in 1970. More recently, provinces and Municipalities gained wide autonomy in 1990, and the constitution itself was revised in 2001 to set up what is sometimes referred to as a ‘quasi-federal’ system of intergovernmental relations. In this context, inter-municipal cooperation also has witnessed several phases and dynamics, ranging from (very rare) fusions, through single-purpose cooperation, to integrated service management (Public-public partnership, and consortia for the management and/or regulation of public utilities). More recently, and most notably over the past decade, inter-municipal cooperation has taken on a new form, consisting in the shared ownership in joint-stock companies. The so-called ‘corporatisation’ of public bodies, i.e. the creation of public-owned (or mixed public-private), private-law companies and corporations for the fulfilment of public-interest activities, has come to constitute a network of inter-municipal cooperation that appears to represent a shift from an institutional intergovernmental structure of cooperation, to one that is pre-eminently played out in the arenas of public-private forms of governance. The article analyses the literature and overarching trends in inter-municipal cooperation in Italy, and draws on very rich original data on the companies owned by Municipalities in six Italian regions to show how these companies represent the locus of inter-municipal (and multi-level) relations that go well beyond the formal boundaries of local administrations, and are often brokered by powerful private partners.

Representation through corporatisation: municipal corporations in Italy as arenas for local democracy

The literature on Public Utilities has increasingly shown that the adoption of corporate governance tools for the management of public services in local policy-making has given rise to a considerable reshaping of political strategies and practices. Corporatisation should be understood as not merely a policy instrument, but also as a new opportunity for local politicians to adjust their preferences, to deal with various interests, and to build unusual coalitions. Corporatisation may (and does) influence the concrete operation of local political systems. Today, the boards of municipal enterprises, as well as the public–private partnerships stemming from this emerging tendency towards corporatisation, can be conceived as both actors of local policy-making and arenas in which a number of functions traditionally associated with the mechanisms of electoral representation are performed: inter- and intra-party bargaining, recruitment of elites, and negotiation with local and ‘external’ stakeholders. The paper illustrates the impact of corporatisation on local representation mechanisms in Italy, considering its opaque side with specific reference to the problem of democratic accountability and control, and the creation of new local oligarchies. Empirical evidence is provided from research on municipal enterprises in six different Italian regions. Statistical data on companies (amount of social capital, fields of activity, private and public shareholders, etc.), as well as qualitative data, are analysed in order to show how corporatisation has provided local actors with unusual (and often non-transparent) channels of political representation and public–private bargaining.

Local Public Services in Italy: Still Fragmentation

In Italy, the local government and public services have long been treated as a complex, incoherent ‘puzzle’ across multiple levels of authority. The chapter analyses how, and how much, the governance of public and social services in Italy has been affected by NPM-inspired reforms aimed at rationalising provision and at increasing efficiency for over two decades. The authors show that reforms in both fields have had the effect of greatly increasing power at the local level at the expense of the intermediate levels, leading to widespread fragmentation. Moreover, in the absence of sound coordination mechanisms, such fragmentation has paved the way to an unclear definition of responsibilities; and the marked decentralisation of decision-making has implied poor integration and an inefficient scale of service delivery.

Apprentice Sorcerers. Evaluating the Programme Theory of Regulatory Governance in Italian Public Utilities

Following the framework of program theory evaluation, the authors evaluate the process and the impact of regulatory design in Italian Local Public Utilities (LPU) from the 1990s onwards, with regard to three different sectors: water supply and sanitation, municipal waste management and disposal, and local public transport. The focus is primarily on the municipal level, given its pivotal role in the system of governance of LPU in the Italian context. After discussing the theory of change behind the LPU reforms and analysing its intended and unintended consequences, the ‘Apprentice Sorcerers’ conclude suggesting a softer approach for future reforms of LPU in Italy based on a more committed steering by the central government, and more flexible management arrangements at the local level.

In the Shadow of Austerity: Italian Local Public Services and the Politics of Budget Cuts

Austerity entered the Italian political agenda with the economic downturn of 2010. Supranational pressures, coupled with domestic changes in the government coalition, paved the way to an intense programme of rationalization through “across-the-board” measures in several domains which fell under the responsibility of local governments (water service, waste, public transport and social welfare). This triggered a shift from a “doing more with less” to a “doing less with less” strategy, implicitly impacting on the autonomy of local governments.