Abstract
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.
The chapter aims at assessing whether, how and to what extent austerity implied a policy transfer or was a window of opportunity for domestic games. The contribution traces the process which links the austerity measures in the national agenda to their local impacts. Issue framing and the choices of policy instruments at the central level are analysed first. Secondly, the chapter focuses on the impact of strategy and measures that directly or indirectly affected the management and delivery of local public services. Finally, the contribution provides an overall discussion of the outputs and outcomes of such a new approach at the financial, social and political level.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
M. Monti and L. Spaventa, “Quanto costerà entrare in Europa”, in La Repubblica, 02/27/1992.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
State Audit Court, yearly reports on municipal agencies and corporations (Gli organismi partecipati dagli Enti territoriali).
- 7.
Government tweet of 18 April 2014 (user @Palazzo_Chigi); note that the figure of 8000 includes all agencies, associations, etc.
- 8.
- 9.
See data.worldbank.org
- 10.
- 11.
State Audit Court, Relazione sugli andamenti della finanza territoriale—Esercizio 2014.
- 12.
For more recent cases and analyses, see http://www.labsus.org/category/patti-beni-comuni/ (in Italian).
References
Arena, G., & Iaione, C. (Eds.). (2012). L’Italia dei beni comuni. Milano: Carocci.
Banca d’Italia. (2007, October 30). Local government Debt—Statistic Series, XVII(62), 2007.
Bersani, M. (2011). Come abbiamo vinto il referendum: dalla battaglia per l’acqua pubblica alla democrazia dei beni comuni. Roma: Alegre.
Bolgherini, S. (2014). Can Austerity Lead to Recentralisation? Italian Local Government During the Economic Crisis. South European Society and Politics, 19(2), 193–214.
Bolgherini, S., & Lippi, A. (2016). Italy. Re-mapping Local Government from Re-allocation and Re-Shaping to Re-scaling. In U. Sadioglu & K. Dede (Eds.), Theoretical Foundations and Discussions on the Reformation Process in Local Governments (pp. 265–287). New York: IGI Global.
Bolgherini, S., Lippi, A., & Maset, S. (2016). In mezzo al guado. La governance subregionale tra vecchie province e nuove aree vaste. Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, 12(3), 341–372.
Bosco, A., & McDonnell, D. (2012). Introduction: The Monti Government and the Downgrade of Italian Parties. In A. Bosco & D. McDonnell (Eds.), Italian Politics. From Berlusconi to Monti. New York: Berghahn.
Bosi, L., & Zamponi, L. (2015). Direct Social Actions and Economic Crises: The Relationship Between Forms of Action and Socio-Economic Context in Italy. Partecipazione e conflitto, 8(2), 367–391.
Bussu, S., & Galanti, T. (2015). Local Governments at the Time of the Crisis. In C. Hanretty & S. Profeti (Eds.), Italian Politics. The Year of the Bulldozer (pp. 141–159). New York: Berghahn.
Citroni, G., & Di Giulio, M. (2016). Dismissioni! E poi? Che fare delle ex-municipalizzate. Milano: Guerini e Associati.
Citroni, G., Lippi, A., & Profeti, S. (2015). Representation Through Corporatisation. Municipal Corporations in Italy as Arenas for Local Democracy. European Political Science Review, 7(1), 63–98.
Citroni, G., Lippi, A., & Profeti, S. (2016). Local Public Services in Italy: Still Fragmentation. In H. Wollmann, G. Marcou, & I. Kopric (Eds.), Public and Social Services in European Countries (pp. 103–118). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Citroni, G., Di Giulio, M., Galanti, M. T., Lippi, A., & Profeti, S. (2017). Apprentice Sorcerers. Evaluating the Program Theory of Regulatory Governance in Italian Public Utilities. In I. Kopric, G. Marcou, & H. Wollmann (Eds.), Evaluation of Reforms of Local Public Services in Europe (pp. 225–242). London: Palgrave.
CREA Sanità. (2015). XI Rapporto sanità. L’universalismo diseguale. Rome: CREA Consorzio per la Ricerca Economica Applicata in Sanità.
Culpepper, P. (2014). The Political Economy of Unmediated Democracy: Italian Austerity Under Mario Monti. West European Politics, 37(6), 1264–1281.
Di Giulio, M., & Profeti, S. (2016). Eppur si muove? Il riordino territoriale oltre la crisi. Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, 12(3), 311–340.
Di Mascio, F., & Natalini, A. (2014). Reform Processes: Performance Management Within Italian Local Government. International Public Management Journal, 16(1), 141–166.
Di Mascio, F., & Natalini, A. (2015). Fiscal Retrenchment in Southern Europe: Changing Patterns of Public Management in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Public Management Review, 17(1), 129–148.
Di Mascio, F., Natalini, A., & Stolfi, F. (2013). The Gost of Crises Past: Analysing Reform Sequences to Understand Italy’s Response to Global Crisis. Public Administration, 91(1), 17–31.
Di Quirico, R. (2010). Italy and the Global Economic Crisis. Bulletin of Italian Politics, 2(2), 3–19.
Dyson, K., & Featherstone, K. (Eds.). (1999). The Road to Maastricht. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fusaro, C. (2013). The Formation of the Monti Government and the Role of the President of the Republic. In A. Bosco & D. McDonnell (Eds.), Italian Politics. From Berlusconi to Monti (pp. 78–97). New York: Berghahn.
Galanti, T. (2016). Sindaci e manager nel capitalismo municipale. Saggio sui vestiti nuovi dell’imperatore. Bologna: il Mulino.
Gennari, E., & Messina, G. (2012, January). How Sticky Are Local Expenditures in Italy? Assessing the Relevance of the “Flypaper Effect” Through Municipal Data. Banca d’Italia Working Paper No. 844.
Giannetti, D. (2013). Mario Monti’s Technocratic Government. In A. Di Virgilio & C. Radaelli (Eds.), Italian Politics. Technocrats in Office (pp. 133–152). New York: Berghahn.
Goretti, C., & Rizzuto, L. (2013). The Spending Review: Use and Abuse of a Term. In A. Di Virgilio & C. M. Radaelli (Eds.), Italian Politics: Technocrats in Office (pp. 188–206). New York: Berghahn.
Gualmini, E., & Pasotti, E. (Eds.). (2011). Italian Politics. Much Ado About Nothing? New York: Berghahn.
Guidi, M. (2015). The Democratic Party of Matteo Renzi. In C. Hanretty & S. Profeti (Eds.), Italian Politics. The Year of the Bulldozer (pp. 51–66). New York: Berghahn.
Hanretty, C., & Profeti, S. (Eds.). (2015). Italian Politics. The Year of the Bulldozer. New York: Berghahn.
Hopkin, J. (2012). A Slow Fuse: Italy and the EU Debt Crisis. The International Spectator, 47(4), 35–48.
Jones, E. (2012). Italy’s Sovereign Debt Crisis. Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, 54(1), 83–110.
Léon, M., Pavolini, E., & Guillén, A. M. (2015). Welfare Rescaling in Italy and Spain: Political Strategies to Deal with Harsh Austerity. European Journal of Social Security, 17(2), 182–201.
Lippi, A. (2011). Evaluating the ‘Quasi Federalist’ Programme of Decentralisation in Italy Since the 1990s: A Side Effect Approach. Local Government Studies, 37(5), 495–516.
Lippi, A., Giannelli, N., Profeti, S., & Citroni, G. (2008). Adapting Public-Private Governance to the Local Context. The Case of Water and Sanitation Services in Italy. Public Management Review, 10(5), 619–640.
Marangoni, F. (2012). Technocrats in Government: The Composition and Legislative Initiatives of the Monti Government Eight Months into Its Term of Office. Bulletin of Italian Politics, 4(1), 135–149.
Marotta, M. (2015). L’associazionismo obbligatorio delle funzioni dei piccoli Comuni calabresi. Amministrare, 45(1), 151–162.
Monteduro, M. T. (2016). Riforme istituzionali ed equilibri di bilancio: la finanza locale alla ricerca di un assetto stabile. In G. Arachi & M. Baldini (Eds.), La finanza pubblica italiana. Rapporto 2016 (pp. 155–182). Bologna: Il Mulino.
Quaglia, L. (2005). Civil Servants, Economic Ideas, and Economic Policies: Lessons from Italy. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 18(4), 545–566.
Radaelli, C., & Franchino, F. (2004). Analysing Political Change in Italy. Journal of European Public Policy, 11(6), 941–953.
Sacchi, S. (2015). Conditionality by Other Means: EU Involvement in Italy’s Structural Reforms in the Sovereign Debt Crisis. Comparative European Politics, 13(1), 77–92.
Savoldi, A., & Scarpa, C. (2016). Servizi pubblici: i consumatori al centro dell’attenzione. In G. Arachi & M. Baldini (Eds.), La finanza pubblica italiana. Rapporto 2016 (pp. 185–205). Bologna: Il Mulino.
Stolfi, F. (2013). Back in Europe? Italy, the Troika, and the Chancelleries. In A. Di Virgilio & C. Radaelli (Eds.), Italian Politics. Technocrats in Office (pp. 173–187). New York: Berghahn.
Ter-Minassian, T. (2007). Fiscal Rules for Subnational Governments: Can They Promote Fiscal Discipline? OECD Journal on Budgeting, 6(3), 1–11.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Citroni, G., Lippi, A., Profeti, S. (2019). In the Shadow of Austerity: Italian Local Public Services and the Politics of Budget Cuts. In: Lippi, A., Tsekos, T. (eds) Local Public Services in Times of Austerity across Mediterranean Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76225-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76225-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76224-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76225-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)