New Public Management and Managerial Reforms in Italy between 1990-2013: A Chronological History of Implementation Gaps?

Abstract

Public management reform is concerned with the democratic character of government officials’ decisions and its objective is not just to make the state organization more efficient but to build state capacity. New public management constituted a movement that, inspired by private sector management principles, intended to manage public sector according to a more coherent approach to governance inspired by principles of performance orientation to improve government’s strategic and policy making capacities. Following a chronological structure, the paper provides an analysis of managerial reforms in Italy between 1990-2013 by evidencing the processes of implementation and “apparent” implementation of managerial and new public management driven reforms in Italian public sector across the period in object. Then, it will discuss alternative public management models and emerging managerial tools that have raised to overcome the shortcomings derived by the new public management approach to public sector management. Future directions for research in the field of public management will be also discussed.