Economic Growth and Cohesion Policy Implementation in Italy and Spain: Institutions, Strategic Choices, Administrative Change (International Series on Public Policy)

This book concerns EU Cohesion Policy and the economic convergence of underdeveloped regions in Italy and Spain from the first programming period to the present: it investigates the political and institutional factors that determine the success or failure of implementing EU Cohesion Policy at national and sub-national level, as well as their impact on economic growth. On the wave of the American tradition of development studies, this book suggests that public policy analysis can be fruitful for understanding economic growth and cohesion, if it were to reconstruct domestic public interventions for development and the institutional characteristics of the subjects responsible for pursuing development goals. To do so, this book derives its theoretical foundations from the traditional debate on the role of state actors in promoting economic development and on the institutional characteristics that the public authorities involved in the process of economic development should display. More precisely, by adopting an Hirschmanian approach to development, it elaborates an original framework to compare different Cohesion Policy implementations and to understand its economic results in different countries, using Italy and Spain as pilot studies. Mattia Casula is a Research Fellow in Political Science at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy. He has held visiting positions at the European University Institute in Florence, at the University of Strathclyde and at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests and publications are in the field of public policy and administration, with a focus on subnational and local levels. A former member of the Board of the Regional Studies Association, he is currently cocoordinator of the Standing Group "Regional Studies and Local Policies" of the Italian Political Science Association Contents 6 Abbreviations 9 List of Figures 11 List of Tables 12 Introduction 13 References 18 Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Cohesion Policy as a Case of Development Policy: A Framework for the Empirical Analysis 20 1.1 Interpreting Convergence in Europe: A Public Policy Approach 20 1.2 Theoretical Background 25 1.2.1 Discussing Hirschman’s Theories on Socio-economic Development 26 1.3 A Working Hypothesis as a Starting Point 29 1.4 Cohesion Policy Implementation in Italy and Spain as Case Study 34 1.4.1 Why Cohesion Policy Implementation 36 1.4.2 Why Italy and Spain 40 1.5 Exploring the Theory 43 1.5.1 Proposing a Hirschmanian Approach to the Study of EU Structural Funds 44 1.5.2 Explaining the Change 46 1.5.3 Approach to the Analysis 56 References 58 Chapter 2: Understanding the Rules of the Game: How Cohesion Policy Works 67 2.1 Introduction 67 2.2 Toward the 1988 Reform: The Antecedents of EU Regional Policy 68 2.3 The Evolution of the Basic Principles 74 2.3.1 Geographical Concentration 74 2.3.2 Programming 78 2.3.3 Partnership 81 2.3.4 Additionality 86 2.4 The Transnational Arena: Building the Policy 87 2.4.1 The Debate on Cohesion Policy Reforms 87 2.4.2 The Dynamics of Negotiations on the Reform of Structural Funds 91 2.4.2.1 Negotiation of the Legislative and the Financial Package 91 2.4.2.2 Negotiating Area Designation 94 2.4.2.3 Negotiating CSF 96 2.5 The Domestic Arena: From Policy to Implementation 101 2.5.1 Management 102 2.5.2 Monitoring 106 2.5.3 Evaluation 109 2.5.4 An Overview 113 2.6 Which Challenges for the Domestic Actors 114 2.6.1 The Institutional Challenge 115 2.6.2 The Strategic Challenge 116 2.6.3 The Administrative Challenge 118 2.7 How to Study Domestic Answers? 121 References 124 Chapter 3: The Italian Case: Between Decentralization and the Legacies of the Past 129 3.1 Introduction 129 3.2 The Legacies of the Past 132 3.3 The Years of the “Extraordinary Intervention” 132 3.3.1 A Consolidated Misfit 138 3.4 Explaining National Strategies 140 3.4.1 Meeting the Institutional Challenge: A System (Still) Searching for an Identity 140 3.4.1.1 Ten Years of Difficult Adaptation 140 3.4.1.2 The Parabola of the Nuova Programmazione 149 National Structures 150 3.4.2 Meeting the Strategic Challenge: A Fragmented and Unplanned Endogenous Development 157 3.4.2.1 Searching for a Coherent Development Strategy 157 3.4.2.2 A Bankrupt Breaking Strategy 160 3.4.3 Meeting the Administrative Challenge: An (Unusual) Case of Retrenchment? 166 3.4.3.1 From Negation to Adaptation 166 3.4.3.2 From Adaptation to Learning, and Beyond 168 3.5 Evidence from Regional Experiences 177 3.5.1 The Case of Campania: Another (Regional) Parabola? 177 3.5.1.1 The Institutional Challenge 177 3.5.1.2 The Strategic Challenge 181 3.5.1.3 The Administrative Challenge 183 3.5.1.4 Administrative Performance in 2007–2013 ERDF OP 188 3.5.2 The Case of Calabria: An Immobile Region? 193 3.5.2.1 The Institutional Challenge 194 3.5.2.2 The Strategic Challenge 196 3.5.2.3 The Administrative Challenge 198 3.5.2.4 Administrative Performance in 2007–2013 ERDF OP 200 3.6 Implementing the 2014–2020 Programming Period: New Challenges and Old Answers? 202 References 208 Chapter 4: The Spanish Case: The Benefits of a National Coordination 214 4.1 Introduction 214 4.2 The Legacies of the Past 215 4.2.1 A (Consolidated) Centralized Approach to Regional Development 215 4.2.2 A Limited Degree of Misfit 222 4.3 Explaining National Strategies 224 4.3.1 Meeting the Institutional Challenge: A (Quasi) Centralized System in a Regionalist State 224 4.3.1.1 Building a National Garrison 225 4.3.1.2 Reinforcing a National Garrison 228 4.3.2 Meeting the Strategic Challenge: Perpetuating a Thematic and a Territorial Selectivity 234 4.3.2.1 Connecting Center and Peripheries 236 4.3.2.2 Connecting Spain with Europe 238 4.3.3 Meeting the Administrative Challenge: Stimulating a Learning Process from Above 240 4.3.3.1 From Adaptation to Learning 240 4.3.3.2 Consolidating Learning 241 4.4 Evidence from Regional Experiences 244 4.4.1 The Case of Andalusia: Reinforcing the National Garrison at the Regional Level 244 4.4.1.1 The Institutional Challenge 244 4.4.1.2 The Strategic Challenge 246 4.4.1.3 The Administrative Challenge 246 4.4.1.4 Administrative Performance in 2007–2013 ERDF OP 247 4.4.2 The Case of Galicia: Central Planning and Learning Paths 249 4.4.2.1 The Institutional Challenge 249 4.4.2.2 The Strategic Challenge 250 4.4.2.3 The Administrative Challenge 251 4.4.2.4 Administrative Performance in 2007–2013 ERDF OP 252 4.5 Implementing the 2014–2020 Programming Period: A Learning Response with a Top-Down Approach 255 References 258 Chapter 5: Conclusions: Two Cases in a Comparative Perspective 262 5.1 Results 262 5.2 Lessons for Studies on Europeanization and Economic Development 267 5.3 Policy Recommendations 269 References 270 References 271 Index 292 Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi Conceptualizing Cohesion Policy as a Case of Development Policy: A Framework for the Empirical Analysis (Mattia Casula)....Pages 1-47 Understanding the Rules of the Game: How Cohesion Policy Works (Mattia Casula)....Pages 49-110 The Italian Case: Between Decentralization and the Legacies of the Past (Mattia Casula)....Pages 111-195 The Spanish Case: The Benefits of a National Coordination (Mattia Casula)....Pages 197-244 Conclusions: Two Cases in a Comparative Perspective (Mattia Casula)....Pages 245-253 Back Matter ....Pages 255-282