Policy Advice and Administrative Reforms in Italy: Context, Political Advisors and Policy Design [Policy advice e riforme amministrative in Italia: contesto, political advisors e design delle politiche pubbliche]

This essay focuses on eight reform episodes in the fields of better regulation and performance management which were enacted in Italy between 1993 and 2018 in the context of four cycles of administrative reform. In doing so, the empirical analysis unveils the configuration of the network of political advisors who contributed to the design of administrative reforms. It also tracks the influence of the context of the policy subsystem on the relationship between the configuration of the network of political advisors and policy design features. Findings reveal that networks of political advisors tend to exhibit a medium level of institutionalization and political neutrality. Furthermore, policy design has been more sophisticated in the field of better regulation under the influence of international organizations and domestic stakeholders.