From the Change of the Pattern to the Change in the Pattern. The Trilateral Game in the Italian Intergovernmental Relations

Abstract

Studies on federalism, regionalism and devolution often tackle the processes of institutional change in a country's polity merely as transitions from an institutional pattern to another, thus mainly focusing on the role of legal frameworks and Constitutional setting in the transition from an equilibrium to another. Such an approach overlooks the role of incremental dynamics: what happens after a new constitutional equilibrium has been reached? Does it stand still, crystallized by formal institutions, or does it evolve in time? This article illustrates the relevance of incremental institutional changes that occur after a major Constitutional reform and shows how an alteration in the distribution of resources among actors may heavily affect the territorial arrangement and the intergovernmental relations (IGRs) of a country. It focuses on the Italian case and the change in its IGRs between 2001 and 2016. Through a secondary analysis, a scrutiny of the trilateral game among the State, the Regions and the Local Authorities – played by reshaping and implementing the initial arrangement through gradual, piecemeal and layered modifications – will be conducted. Evidence is displayed through Dente (1997) resources (legal, political, financial and cognitive) framework. The main finding is that the change in the pattern turns out to be less visible, sometimes ambiguous and sticky, and more uncertain than a change of the pattern, but equally deep and effective. In the conclusion, some interpretative hypotheses for further research on the relevance of change in the pattern and its generalization for multi‐level system countries are proposed.

Cross‐Theoretical and Conceptual Advances to Enhance Knowledge in Policy Studies

“…其中两篇文章对行动模式 (Capano & Galanti, )进行了改进,或者说, 它们分别关注了制度模式中的转变 (Bolgherini, Giulio, & Lippi, ), 这种转变最终都会影响政策制定。与目前关于代理概念盛行的个人观点相反的是,这两篇文章都探讨了集体行动模式和, 制度改革对政策制定的长期影响。接下来的两篇文章 (van der Heijden & Kuhlmann, ; Blum, ) 将关注点转向拉斯韦尔 (1970) 研究的政策过程知识。为此,第一篇文章检验了重要理论的应用, 力求识别出理论所揭示的政策过程知识、以及这对阐述政策变化而言意味着什么。相反的是, 第二篇文章探讨了知识是如何被应用于政策过程中, 进而影响政策变化。最后两篇文章 (ter Bogt, ; Apostolopoulos & Liargovas, ) 从相互交换观点的视角研究了: 1, 将政府任务作为政策输出进行外包; 2, 将创新计划用于决策, 这将反过来影响政策制定和输出。相互交流(Cross‐fertilization)已作为一种合并不同理论见解的新趋势而出现, 其目的是提升科学知识 (Bandelow et al., )。以下是对每篇文章的简短描述。…”

“…他们对能动性概念的改进还很有可能影响关于制度模式的调查研究, 此研究是作者 Bolgherini et al. () 的研究重点。他们的文章聚焦于意大利宪法改革, 认为单靠法律变化和制度变化并不能充分考量随之而来的制度模式变化 (Sager, ) 的动态。他们审视了制度模式中的变化, 并因此描述了模式变化对包括资源再分配在内的长期动态产生的影响。在意大利案例中, 制度变化影响了领地安排和政府间关系。国家、区域和地方政府间的多边权力博弈可能从大体上驱动联邦制国家中渐进式变化的动态。…”

“…Dos contribuciones refinan los patrones de acción (Capano y Galanti, ) o, respectivamente, tienen que ver con cambios de patrones institucionales (Bolgherini, Giulio, y Lippi, ), que afectan eventualmente la creación de políticas. Contrariamente al entendimiento individual del concepto de la autonomía, patrones colectivos de acción y efectos a largo plazo de reforma institucional de la creación de políticas se discuten.…”

“…Two contributions refine patterns of action (Capano & Galanti, ) or, respectively, regard changes in institutional patterns (Bolgherini, Di Giulio, & Lippi, ), which both eventually affect policy‐making. As opposed to the predominant individual understanding of the concept of agency, collective patterns of action and the long‐term effects of institutional reform on policy‐making are discussed.…”

“…Their refinement of the agency term also has great potential to inform research on institutional patterns of the kind that Bolgherini et al (2018) present. Focusing on the constitutional reform in Italy, they argue that a mere reference to legal and institutional changes does not allow for adequately considering the resulting dynamics connected to the change in an institutional pattern (Sager, 2005).…”