The marble cake of social services in Italy and Spain: Policy capacity, social investment, and the national recovery and resilience plans

Abstract

This article analyses the potential implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the infrastructure of social services in Italy and Spain. Drawing from the policy capacity framework and focusing on childcare and elderly care, we investigate how the National Recovery and Resilience Plans are likely to impact the core functions of the social investment approach. Through document analysis, the article shows that, whereas the infrastructure of the social service system remains characterised by a ‘marble cake’ type of institutional arrangement combining national and subnational responsibilities, attempts have been made by the central governments to steer the social investment policy capacity at the organisational and systemic levels. We argue that the pandemic represents a window of opportunity to rethink the overall system of intergovernmental relations in the field of social services.

Multi‐Level Governance Feedback and Health Care in Italy in the Aftermath of Covid‐19

“…The If the EU did not play a major role in drafting the contents of the measures adopted, the same is true for the regional authorities. As stated by one interviewee (INT12), there was practically no formal involvement of the subnational level of government in formulating the measures to adopt (see also Lippi & Terlizzi, 2023). At the same time, the regions did not challenge the central government in the Constitutional Court for not having been involved in the plan for two reasons.…”