Governance Beyond the Rhetoric: Organizational Action, Change, and Illusion in the Italian Local Welfare System

Abstract

<jats:p> In this article, we offer a critical analysis of governance arrangements looking at the evolution of the Italian local welfare system over a time period of more than 40 years. The broad idea of a shift “from government to governance” is questioned. The nonprofit organizations had a vital role in the foundation of the Italian local welfare system. However, their participation in the governance arenas of today is often illusionary. This has practical consequences, as innovation in the welfare domain needs authentic public–private partnerships, and genuine participation of the nonprofits at all levels of social and political action. </jats:p>

The Fate of Social Modernity

“…Here and there they developed community work or special training programmes. In the wake of a far-reaching devolution of state responsibilities for social service provision to the local level, moreover, municipalities sought to provide disadvantaged citizens with employment-related services and active inclusion measures (Catalano et al 2016;D'Emilione et al 2021;Gasparre and Bassoli 2020). During the same period, regions ran experiments with vouchers to jobseekers, inviting them to work with (mainly commercial) agencies for job placement and employability promotion (Pastore 2018).…”

Institutionalizing innovation in welfare local services through co-production: toward a Neo-Weberian State?

“…During the last few decades, political scientists engaged in welfare policies research have been showing an avid interest in the study of co-production of local public services (Steen et al ., 2016; Bussu and Galanti, 2018; Sinclair et al ., 2018; Polizzi and Bassoli, 2020). Innovative practices based on the involvement of citizens as co-producers of welfare services are considered as new ideal practices that welfare systems should incorporate to effectively tackle emerging social problems (Osborne and Strokosch, 2013; Gasparre and Bassoli, 2020). Co-production has thus increasingly been included among the ‘magic concepts’ used by policymakers to frame and support local welfare reforms (Vennik et al ., 2016; Profeti and Tarditi, 2019).…”