Public Administration in Italy: Context and History, Profession and Disciplines, Thematic Areas
Chair(s): Edoardo ONGARO (Open University, United Kingdom), Loredana GIANI (European University of Rome)
The panel provides a critical and fully interdisciplinary analysis of the transformation of public administration in Italy. Based on a combination of novel studies on the topics of territoriality and citizenship and the management of tourism and cultural inheritance and the findings of three volumes published in 2025, the panel aims at providing a unique insight into the state-of-art and future prospects of public administration in Italy in its European context.
Three recent volumes (Public Administration in Italy in Political and Historical Context: The Craft of the Italian State; Public Administration in Italy: The Science and the Profession; Perspectives and Futures of Public Administration in Italy – all published with Palgrave) provide a uniquely comprehensive overview and review of public administration in Italy.
The purpose of these books is to provide the reader with an integrated overview and review of PA in contemporary Italy and its transformation since the formation of Italy as a unitary state in 1861, to analyse the administrative system in Italy in its fundamental features and transformations over time, looking at the past - its cultural, political, legal roots – present – its distinctive features – and futures – challenges ahead and its (non-)capacity to cope with them. The volumes are developed around a theoretical framework which considers PA not in isolation but within its historical and political context – because context matters in public administration and public management (Pollitt, 2013). The works and this panel adopt a broad conception of public administration, seen in its multiple dimensions: as an interdisciplinary area of studies (‘the interdisciplinary study of government’), which demands the mobilization of different disciplinary contributions that we relate to well-identified problems (to this purpose the volumes aim to cover the widest range of disciplines studying public administration in Italy); as a profession (a multiplicity of professions centred around the notion of public service: to this purpose, the volumes analyse the key traits of the training, recruitment and regulation of public employment in Italy); as an art and a craft (‘the art and craft of the state and its functioning’ – to this purpose, the volumes examine the public and administrative values, as contained in the constitution, in the political parties manifestos, in the doctrine and the practice of administration, that shape administrative action).
The volumes have been co-edited by Edoardo Ongaro, Carla Barbati, Fabrizio Di Mascio, Francesco Longo and Alessandro Natalini and are dedicated to the memory of Carla Barbati – professor of administrative law and councillor of State of Italy, and representative of Italy in the council of administration of IIAS between 2010 and 2019 - who passed away prematurely in September 2023. Over sixty leading scholars on public administration in Italy have contributed to it. Two of the speakers (Edoardo Ongaro and Francesco Longo) will present the findings of these books.
The panel then considers the contribution of territories, citizens, and intergovernmental relations in the definition of the social and economic needs that the Public Administration is called upon to satisfy, thus contributing to the definition of the development lines of an efficient, transparent and inclusive governance, in order to guarantee a prosperous and cohesive future for all territories, reducing inequalities and improving the quality of life of each individual.
The panel then examines Tourism and cultural heritage which represent a fundamental pillar for the Italian economy, not only in terms of GDP, but also as an engine of social, cultural and economic development for many areas of the country. A context in which the Public Administration plays a fundamental role, also for the development of policies aimed at guaranteeing the implementation of sustainable tourism.
The panel is both about PA in Italy and about Italian PA. It is about the application of extant theories and concepts to the study of public administration in Italy as much as it is about how academic disciplines are developed by Italian scholars. It is about the factual context of Italy – PA in Italy - as well as about the conceptual (or ideational, or intellectual) context of Italy – how Italian scholars study PA. This panel, while focused on the ‘single case study’ of Italy, is intended as a contribution to comparative PA studies, by treating Italy as a comparable case, of value for a European and international audience.
Presentations of the Symposium
Public Administration in Italy in Political and Historical Context: The Craft of the Italian State
Francesco Longo
Bocconi University
This presentation provides the reader with an integrated overview and review of public administration in contemporary Italy and its transformation since the formation of Italy as a unitary state in 1861, based on the findings of a recent edited book. The presentation provides an analysis of the administrative system in Italy in its fundamental features and transformations over time, looking at the past - its cultural, political, legal roots – present – its distinctive features – and futures – challenges ahead and its (non-)capacity to cope with them.
Public Administration in Italy: The Science and the Profession
Edoardo Ongaro
The open university, UK
This paper is about two distinct yet complementary definitions of ‘public administration’. First, as a subject of scholarly inquiry, public administration can be defined as an interdisciplinary field of study, the interdisciplinary study of the configuration and functioning of public administrative systems. On an equal footing and in an equally constitutive way, public administration can be defined as a profession. The combination of these two notions of public administration frame and inform the analysis reported in this paper - based on a forthcoming collective volume dedicated to public administration in Italy. The first part of the paper adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and proposes a set of chapters which introduce the reader to how public administration in Italy has been studied, by highlighting the contribution of historiography, administrative law, management, economics, social psychology, political science and public policy, epistemology and other disciplinary perspectives to the study of Italian public administration. Jointly, this first set of chapters offers the reader an interdisciplinary appreciation of how public administration in its different disciplinary dimensions has been investigated by the Italian scholarly community. The second part of the paper shifts the focus on public administration interpreted as a profession, as something which is practised daily; the second part of the volume analyses key traits of the governance, regulation, leadership and management, as well as the role of oversight and judiciary bodies, in the practice of public servants’ daily work.
Territories and the strategic steering of Public Administrations in Italy
Loredana Giani1, Gabriella Racca2
1European University of Rome, 2University of Turin, Italy
The paper examines the contribution of territories, citizens, and intergovernmental relations in the definition of the social and economic needs that the Public Administration is called upon to satisfy, thus contributing to the definition of the development lines of an efficient, transparent and inclusive governance, in order to guarantee a prosperous and cohesive future for all territories, reducing inequalities and improving the quality of life of each individual.
Public Administration's role in the promotion of tourism and cultural heritage in Italy
Loredana giani1, Aristide Police2
1European University of Rome, 2LUISS University, Roma
The paper analyses tourism and cultural heritage which represent a fundamental pillar for the Italian economy, not only in terms of GDP, but also as an engine of social, cultural and economic development for many areas of the country. A context in which the Public Administration plays a fundamental role, also for the development of policies aimed at guaranteeing the implementation of sustainable tourism.
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