Networks of Expertise and Policy Change in Italy

Abstract A fundamental component of the Italian transition in the 1990s is the shift in public finance that has now qualified Italy for participation in the single currency with the first wave of countries. How can this dramatic change be explained? The author argues that the conventional models employed for the study of the Italian transition must be supplemented with actor-based models. Accordingly, attention is drawn to networks of expertise. In the first part of the article, a case is made for the analysis of the communicative power of policy narratives and of the co-ordinative power of networks of expertise. In the second part, the influence of networks of expertise is examined by dint of the advocacy coalition framework. The article, being based on the preliminary results of a research project in progress, is concluded by theoretical reflections on further explorations of the cognitive dimension of public policy and Italian policy change.