Strategic management in Italian ministries: An empirical assessment of gains from and gaps in reforms

In the two decades since 1990, governments have been facing very important challenges: the global financial and economic crisis, climate change, and demographic ageing are just the most recent of known issues that need to be addressed. Citizens are turning to the state, seeking immediate solutions to complex problems and demanding high-quality public services. While society,s expectations of government are increasing, the resources available to meet these needs are becoming increasingly limited. As the current global crisis has shown, one of the imperatives is to find a balance between providing short-term solutions to the most immediate problems and ensuring intergenerational equity in a long-term perspective. Public sector reforms since 1990 have been driven by the belief that there is a performance deficit and have emphasized the need for agencies to define and measure strategic goals, targets, and achievements.1 In this setting, strategic management becomes a key notion in support of evidence-based policymaking. Copyright © 2012 The Brookings Institution and Scuola Superiore della Pubblica Amministrazione (SSPA).