Unity and Fragmentation: The Italian Public Administration

Abstract

The public Administration is moving towards models in which a single center of government is replaced by a myriad of other ones inhabited by a variety of actors, relationships and interactions. New centers were born both on the world or continental plan and at national and local level, where there is an increase of the importance of subnational governments such as regions, municipalities and especially large cities. To facing a growing importance of the local dimension, as a place of citizenship, identity and subjectivity, the traditional model of administration based on institutional centralization and hierarchical relations, no longer seems sufficient to tackle problems related to the complexity and fragmentation of the modern society. In fact the model of traditional hierarchy, in which a single subject—the institution responsible for decisions—intervened in the formulation and implementation of public policies, is replaced by a network model based on the cooperation between the multiple public and private entities, State and non-State actors who appeared on the scene. The tendency, new and unstable, is that of a territorial rebalancing of political powers and of their actions, as well as the relations between politics and society. This essay, referring to the Italian experience, will focus on models of public management, in a process of isomorphic type, behaviors and organizational structuring typical of the private sector along with other hybrid organizational forms based on intermediation and trust policies. The theme of governance and its effects will be finally taken into consideration at the level of local governments and policies that the latter are called to deal with and manage.