PARtTERRe

PARticipation and public policies for TERRitorial reorganization - Tools for policy-making and the quality of local democracy

The quality of local democracy depends on the development and good management of territories. The territorial reforms periodically pursued in Italy and Europe, often in conjunction with periods of crisis, directly affect territories and their populations. How best to deal with them and how to enable citizen participation in these public policies are the questions this research seeks to answer.  
It focuses on aspects that link local public policies to the territorial arrangements of autonomy and the participation of citizens in the affected communities. At a time when links between politics and citizenship have weakened and distrust of institutions and politics dominates, the research examines a public policy (territorial reorganization) that directly affects autonomies, local powers, municipal boundaries, and territorial identities, and relates it to different forms of citizen political participation in South Tyrol (AA) and in some areas that are related for historical-cultural and geographic and linguistic reasons, such as the province of Trento and the Austrian states of Tyrol and Styria. The link between citizen participation and the impact of public policies is very close: the participation of affected communities is essential for the acceptance, legitimacy, and successful implementation of policies and their reforms. 

Scientific publications linked to this project:

DATASETS

S. Bolgherini, G. Klotz, U. Fromm (2020), Dataset on Local Autonomy in selected Alpine Regions. 2020, GESIS Data Archive Datorium

Freely downloadable on GESIS at https://doi.org/10.7802/2054

This dataset provides updated data on the ‘Local Autonomy Index’ (LAI) for a group of 8 Alpine substate entities. It is part of a more articulated project seeking to explore the link between territorial policies and citizens' participation. The subnational entities have been selected in the Alpine Arc countries: in the Swiss confederation, the Cantons Grisons and Valais; in Italy, the Special Status Regions Aosta Valley, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol; in the Austrian federal state, the Länder Tyrol and Vorarlberg.

S. Bolgherini, G. Klotz, U. Fromm (2020), Dataset on Differentiated Local Autonomy in Italy. 2020, GESIS Data Archive Datorium

Freely downloadable on GESIS at https://doi.org/10.7802/2119

This dataset provides updated and more detailed data on the ‘Local Autonomy Index’ (LAI) for Italy. It is part of a more articulated project seeking to explore the link between territorial policies and citizens' participation. The degree of Local Autonomy has been assessed in Italy in the two main clusters of subnational units, namely the 15 Ordinary Status Regions and the five Special Status Regions. The two clusters enjoy different constitutional and legal prerogatives, which influence the degree of autonomy of their relevant local authorities.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

 S. Bolgherini, S. Grimaldi, A. Paparo (2021), National and local effects in the Italian regional elections (2018-2020). Beyond second-order election expectations?, Contemporary Italian Politics, 13, 4, 441-461, online first Aug 30, 2021, doi: 10.1080/23248823.2021.1969613

 Bolgherini, S., Klotz, G. & Fromm, U. (2021). Context-driven Local Autonomy. The importance of differentiated assessments in asymmetric countries. Revue internationale de politique comparée, 28, 1, 207-255. doi: 10.3917/ripc.281.0207

BOOK CHAPTER

 S. Bolgherini (2021), Fusioni di comuni e affluenza alle urne: la (contro)tendenza in Italia, (EN: Municipal amalgamations and electoral participation: the Italian (counter)trend), in Degni M. (a cura di), IV Rapporto Cà Foscari sui comuni 2021 - La risposta dei comuni alla crisi pandemica, Castelvecchi, Roma, [ISBN 9788832905991], pp.114-133