Contrasting Poverty through Inclusive Governance: the Local Implementation of the National Minimum Income Scheme in Italy

This contribution presents the preliminary results emerging from the first research phase of the PRoject of National Interest (PRIN) named CoPInG (Contrasting Poverty through Inclusive Governance). The research is financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) and relies on the collaboration of the University of Trento, the Polytechnic University of Milan, the University of Turin and the University of Bologna. The aim of the project is the comparative analysis of the local implementation of the Italian National Minimum Income Schemes in four Northern Regions. The research focuses on a reconstruction of the regional multi-governance systems concerning the fight against poverty and how they impacted the national measures. The paper addresses the issue of vertical governance, as a field to analyze the interaction between the regional level and local actors. The Regions of interest are: Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. They are within the richest and most developed Regions in Italy, but – after the 2008 financial crisis – they have been interested by an increase of long- term unemployment and poverty rate. Moreover, it is interesting to study the implementation of the RdC in contexts already well-equipped from a social policies point of view.