La costruzione dell'agenda di policy in Italia: istituzioni, partiti e gruppi di interesse

he present research project aims at investigating - through an in-depth approach – the way the policy agenda is set up in Italy (and in its political system), through the specific focus on the role, strategies and relational dynamics of the main institutions (government, parliament, the Constitutional Court and the President of the Republic), political parties and interest groups. This is an ambitious project – not yet defined/implemented in Italy - to bring more precision on the analysis of what political scientists and policy analysts consider the most decisive phase of the political process and the policy cycle: the agenda-setting. The latter consists in fact of the identification of those issues that policymakers consider the most relevant and that are at the base of their action (in terms of the definition of policy alternatives, policymaking and decision-making processes). The phase of agenda-setting is a strategic step for the concrete development of the policy cycle. It identifies collective problems, defines policy priorities, and gives more/less importance to each single institution, party and interest group. As a consequence, agenda-setting contributes to the definition of the political game, the decision-making process and the cost-benefits of the decisions to take. Our project intends to investigate such an issue through an accurate empirical, theory-driven research based on three analytical dimensions of the set up of the institutional and political agenda to be developed through concentric circles. The first analytical dimension has to do with the institutional agenda to understand its structural dynamics and the modes of interaction and/or overlapping of the single agenda of the key players in this phase (government, parliamentary groups, President of the Republic, parties and groups). It is precisely on such a base (and on the subsequent list of policy priorities) that the legislative process starts with and is shaped by. And the present research project aims to focus on this set of factors and variables. The second analytical dimension is focused on the political agenda(s) advanced by the political parties through the systematic classification of their electoral manifestos and parliamentary activity. This part of the research project aims then to shed light on the government agenda through the classification of the legislative outputs that consists of the main reforms at the core of the Italian policymaking process, the key documents for the economic and financial planning, of the financial and budget laws. The main research goal here is to collect information on the changing nature of the party government in Italy through the last 15 years, and to test the hypothesis (often advanced in the scientific debate) of the potential weakening of the role of political parties as agenda setters in favor of political leaders, and the mass media. The third research dimension is related to the role of interest groups. Here the key research goals are: to map the number, dimension, organizational characteristics and dynamics of activation of these groups on the policy agenda in specific policy fields (agriculture, environment, education, higher education, pensions, employment and justice); and to improve our understanding of their strategies to frame their interest before the public opinion and at the level of the parliamentary decision-making process. These three research dimension are developed in parallel with two further transversal issues to be analysed: the first issue is related to the role of think tanks in generating ideas and solutions that are integrated in the arenas under scrutiny; the second issue has to do with the role of mass media. The latter are considered for their role in shaping information flaws and the public opinion, and as an arena where new frames and understandings that can support and/or challenge the priorities of the institutional actors. The research project is thus largely related ...