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The European studies nowadays marshal into two alternative discourses, each supporting a special model of integration. On the one side, the 'State-centered' discourse portrays the national governments as the key decision-making... more
The European studies nowadays marshal into two alternative discourses, each supporting a special model of integration. On the one side, the 'State-centered' discourse portrays the national governments as the key decision-making actors because of their gate-keeping role for domestic interests to the European arena. On the other, the 'multi-level governance' discourse acknowledges the national governments' loss of centrality in both the supra-national and the domestic arenas, following the autonomy that the European rules allow to the subnational actors. By comparing actors, networks, roles, action logics beneath the negotiations for the 1993 and then the 2000 Structural Funds regulations reforms, this work aims to show how, for whom, and under which conditions Italy witnessed a change from the state-centric mode of inter-institutional relations to a multi-level governance. Conclusions underline that (1) European rules open windows of opportunity, but real actors have to mobilise and use them in order to make the multi-level governance real; (2) even when such an institutional change occurs, it does not necessarily mean an immediate substantial improvement of the policy process, or of its outputs
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Mainstream analyses have often understood environmental effectiveness as a consequence of the shape of interests and policymaking, and have tested their models through statistical techniques. Results have, however, proved quite erratic.... more
Mainstream analyses have often understood environmental effectiveness as a consequence of the shape of interests and policymaking, and have tested their models through statistical techniques. Results have, however, proved quite erratic. It is argued that these weaknesses reflect a misconception about causality, thus highlighting the need for a shift in both model and method. A different model is therefore developed that explains effectiveness through policy tools and ideas. The model is then applied to the performances of the EU15 member states in mid-2000s, and assessed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cases are polarised around two classic cleavages (‘environmentalists’ vs. ‘productivists’, and ‘pro-marketers’ vs. ‘protectionists’), but give evidence that all the related tool mixes are able to deliver – while the relevant difference between leaders and laggards lies in the use of evaluation devices.
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Dottorato di ricerca in sociologia. 12. ciclo. Relatori A. Cavalli e G. E. RusconiConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR -... more
Dottorato di ricerca in sociologia. 12. ciclo. Relatori A. Cavalli e G. E. RusconiConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal
From the late 1980s, the so-called economic infrastructures are proven to play a relevant role in stemming development and growth, in spite of the little scientific consensus about which business model can deliver better results. The... more
From the late 1980s, the so-called economic infrastructures are proven to play a relevant role in stemming development and growth, in spite of the little scientific consensus about which business model can deliver better results. The European Union has entered the debate since the early 1990s, and tipped the historically different national preferences of the Member States by furthering the adoption of specific procedural and substantive policy tools, after the belief that the policy change could lead to better infrastructural projects and economic results. However, this does not seem to be the case for Italy, where infrastructures are expensive and controversial, and economic growth is often weak. The article focuses on the Italian case and on the way domestic tools fit European prescriptions. The qualitative analysis of the tools in use and of implementation practices from 1990 to the early 2000s will argue that likely explanations of the Italian results lay less in the substantive than in the procedural fitting to the EU tools
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In any democratic system, government responsiveness is a crucial component of democratic quality: the more a government is able to pass legislation matching its previous electoral promises, the more it has to be considered as being... more
In any democratic system, government responsiveness is a crucial component of democratic quality: the more a government is able to pass legislation matching its previous electoral promises, the more it has to be considered as being ‘responsive’ and, in turn, the more elections are decisive and citizens ‘matter’. Yet, even more important than the correspondence between party promises and legislative acts is to ascertain whether adopted laws match public opinion priorities. In other words, the question to be answered is the following: are parties (and, in turn, governments) able to respond to citizens’ needs and requests? This paper compares public opinion policy priorities and legislative production with regard to 17 governments in four Western European parliamentary systems – Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the UK – from 2003 to 2013. Methodologically, in order to unravel causal relationships, I run a QCA analysis in which causal conditions are represented by politico-institutional, macr...
How can Qualitative Comparative Analysis contribute to causal knowledge? The article's answer builds on the shift from design to models that the Structural Causal Model framework has compelled in the probabilistic analysis of... more
How can Qualitative Comparative Analysis contribute to causal knowledge? The article's answer builds on the shift from design to models that the Structural Causal Model framework has compelled in the probabilistic analysis of causation. From this viewpoint, models refine the claim that a ‘treatment’ has causal relevance as they specify the ‘covariates’ that make some units responsive. The article shows how QCA can establish configurational models of plausible ‘covariates’. It explicates the rationale, operations, and criteria that confer explanatory import to configurational models, then illustrates how the basic structures of the SCM can widen the interpretability of configurational solutions and deepen the dialogue among techniques.
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How can Qualitative Comparative Analysis contribute to causal knowledge? The article's answer builds on the shift from design to models that the Structural Causal Model framework has compelled in the probabilistic analysis of... more
How can Qualitative Comparative Analysis contribute to causal knowledge? The article's answer builds on the shift from design to models that the Structural Causal Model framework has compelled in the probabilistic analysis of causation. From this viewpoint, models refine the claim that a 'treatment' has causal relevance as they specify the 'covariates' that make some units responsive. The article shows how QCA can establish configurational models of plausible 'covariates'. It explicates the rationale, operations, and criteria that confer explanatory import to configurational models, then illustrates how the basic structures of the SCM can widen the interpretability of configurational solutions and deepen the dialogue among techniques.
In the last decades, ‘research design’ has become a strategic topic across political science. An emerging discourse relies on it to encompass paradigmatic oppositions and cultivate a pluralist approach to causation. As an introduction to... more
In the last decades, ‘research design’ has become a strategic topic across political science. An emerging discourse relies on it to encompass paradigmatic oppositions and cultivate a pluralist approach to causation. As an introduction to the special issue on the topic, we offer an outline of the roles that the discipline recognizes to design in its relation to models and contend that, in a time of fascination for predictors, political science pluralism allows for balancing interpretability and validity of findings at once.
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In contrast to predictions from long-honored theories, corruption has become a threat even to established democracies. Its practices corrode the principle of fairness and make whole communities believe that trading favors is the... more
In contrast to predictions from long-honored theories, corruption has become a threat even to established democracies. Its practices corrode the principle of fairness and make whole communities believe that trading favors is the inescapable rationale of government. Distrust consolidates a social trap that direct interventions have proven hard to defuse. This article develops the argument that accountability provides grounds for a promising indirect strategy and can counter corruption from the entry point of administrative policy decisions. It addresses administrative accountability as the mechanism that can compel decisions to consider others\u2019 concerns and discusses why it can fail when it is activated only ex post as managerial control. The conclusions list the features of instrument and governance design under which the mechanism is reasonably expected to succeed
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Accountability is the control side in a relationship of delegation. Its devices elicit information from the agents to prove that they meet key values and legitimate concerns. Expected to yield effective and democratic policies, it can... more
Accountability is the control side in a relationship of delegation. Its devices elicit information from the agents to prove that they meet key values and legitimate concerns. Expected to yield effective and democratic policies, it can spoil them instead — and the debate is still open on which facets exactly matter. The Institutional Analysis and Development framework suggests that convincing reasons lie in the institutional design. To it, institutions are effective as enforced instructions that restrain the players’ strategies in an action situation — and their power varies with the contents and the completeness of their syntax. Following the framework, the article locates the critical juncture of accountability in the administrative sphere, and the roots of the dilemma in the distrust that accountability designs entail when they conceive the bureaucracy as an agent instead than as a trustee. Finally, it applies the Institutional Grammar Tool to the procedures that can mark the diff...
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Standard Qualitative Comparative Analysis is especially suited to explain diversity but is often diagnosed with weak findings. Its protocol either can dismiss necessary conditions as irrelevant and make solutions that are untrue to... more
Standard Qualitative Comparative Analysis is especially suited to explain diversity but is often diagnosed with weak findings. Its protocol either can dismiss necessary conditions as irrelevant and make solutions that are untrue to observations, or add irrelevant conditions as causal and make incorrect solutions. Additionally, the algorithm may not recognize the functional dependencies among the conditions. These claims call for different gauges to assess the single conditions that are retrieved by Standard minimizations. This article develops “import” and “essentiality” to establish whether a condition has explanatory merit alone and within the wider model. When applied in exemplary studies, these gauges indicate that Standard solutions are more sound than often conceded.
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Among delegation theorists, accountability has recently turned into a key issue, as its devices and designs are believed to prevent the key problem of agents\u2019 opportunism and permeability to special interests. But the concept is... more
Among delegation theorists, accountability has recently turned into a key issue, as its devices and designs are believed to prevent the key problem of agents\u2019 opportunism and permeability to special interests. But the concept is blurred, and there is little consensus on which institutional solutions should be preferred: with dominant rather than multiple accountees; with political principals as accountees only; against procedures or against targets. After clarifying the concept, the article defines a model that links key accountability characteristics to system effectiveness, operationalizes it using the OECD budget governance data from a selection of Western countries, and analyzes it with the Qualitative Comparative Analysis
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Despite many reforms, evidence from the past decade proves the Italian fiscal policy still being “irresponsible.” The article understands the problem from a public choice perspective: irresponsibility is a natural result of unconstrained... more
Despite many reforms, evidence from the past decade proves the Italian fiscal policy still being “irresponsible.” The article understands the problem from a public choice perspective: irresponsibility is a natural result of unconstrained “raw politics,” yet proper institutional designs can bring it under control. It then presents qualitative data showing how Italian irresponsibility follows inappropriate constraints, and explains why the recent European provisions can support a fruitful institutional change.
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Mainstream analyses have often understood environmental effectiveness as a consequence of the shape of interests and policymaking, and have tested their models through statistical techniques. Results have, however, proved quite erratic.... more
Mainstream analyses have often understood environmental effectiveness as a consequence of the shape of interests and policymaking, and have tested their models through statistical techniques. Results have, however, proved quite erratic. It is argued that these weaknesses reflect a misconception about causality, thus highlighting the need for a shift in both model and method. A different model is therefore developed that explains effectiveness through policy tools and ideas. The model is then applied to the performances of the EU15 member states in mid-2000s, and assessed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cases are polarised around two classic cleavages (‘environmentalists’ vs. ‘productivists’, and ‘pro-marketers’ vs. ‘protectionists’), but give evidence that all the related tool mixes are able to deliver – while the relevant difference between leaders and laggards lies in the use of evaluation devices.
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Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche N. 2, 2010, pp. 87-114. Procedura o sostanza? Perché le politiche infrastrutturali sono così difficili in Italia Alessia Damonte ABSTRACT: A Substantive or a Procedural Policy Instrument? Why Do the... more
Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche N. 2, 2010, pp. 87-114. Procedura o sostanza? Perché le politiche infrastrutturali sono così difficili in Italia Alessia Damonte ABSTRACT: A Substantive or a Procedural Policy Instrument? Why Do the Infrastructural Policies Fail in Italy? ...
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... e-mail: alessia.damonte@unimi.it ... cittadinanza in uno degli stati membri, secondo procedure ancora fortemente eterogenee; (5) soprattutto, come sottolinea l'analisi politologica mainstream ripresa nel dibattito sul... more
... e-mail: alessia.damonte@unimi.it ... cittadinanza in uno degli stati membri, secondo procedure ancora fortemente eterogenee; (5) soprattutto, come sottolinea l'analisi politologica mainstream ripresa nel dibattito sul deficit democratico, rispetto alla forma Stato manca del richiamo ...
... la condanna all'ambiguità Alessia Damonte Università degli Studi di Milano ... La nomina del commissario assurge così a passaggio chiave della procedu‐ ra, e costruisce di fatto un potere di veto del Ministero sulle... more
... la condanna all'ambiguità Alessia Damonte Università degli Studi di Milano ... La nomina del commissario assurge così a passaggio chiave della procedu‐ ra, e costruisce di fatto un potere di veto del Ministero sulle priorità re‐ gionali che non manca di generare conflitto. ...