Explaining programmes for change: electronic government policy in Italy (1993-2003)

This paper examines Electronic Government (E-Government) policy in Italy (1993 – 2003) as an instance of Programme for change, defined as explicit and intentional efforts of central agencies to introduce, spread and sustain government-wide innovative practices. Literature on both public management reform and on innovation management has left Programmes for change an area that is under explored. Understanding why they start, how they operate, how they interact with the context - institutions, political actors, bureaucrats’ behaviour and beliefs - and what role is played by individual policy entrepreneurs needs to be further examined. This paper addresses these questions by analysing recent experiences of E-Government policy in Italy from an institutional processualist approach. It does so in a country where such a complex Programme came into existence and became a mainstay of the modernization issue despite a tumultuous political context.