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Innovation Policy in Italy (1993–2002): Understanding the Invention and Persistence of a Public Management Reform
Author(s) -
MELE VALENTINA
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.46
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1468-0491
pISSN - 0952-1895
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2010.01478.x
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , public management , politics , public administration , government (linguistics) , christian ministry , public policy , new public management , central government , persistence (discontinuity) , political science , economics , local government , public sector , law , biochemistry , chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , geotechnical engineering , engineering
The literature on the politics of public management reform in Italy broadly contends that the country's legalistic administrative tradition suppresses reform. This article questions and qualifies this line of argument on the basis of a newly reported case of public management reform that endured for more than 10 years. The study tracks and explains the emergence of the policy issue of “government innovation” and its persistence on the specialized policy agenda of the Ministry for Public Administration. The initial emergence of the government innovation policy in Italy and its directional stability is explained by applying event‐centric approaches to historical analysis, together with the institutional concept of policy subsystems. The article shows the need for modifying central arguments—both substantive and theoretical—about the politics of public management reform in Italy.