Between national constraints and the legacies of the past: Explaining variations in inter-municipal cooperation in Italian regions

Despite the historical tradition of inter-municipal cooperation in several regions, the Italian policy maker has for the first time decided to oblige small municipalities to co-manage their basic functions. Although controversial because of its overly top-down logic, this provision is driving a “new” era of inter-municipal cooperation in Italian regions: around 70% of Italian municipalities must choose between a municipal union and a covenant in order to manage these functions. Regions can direct their municipalities towards different forms of inter-municipal cooperation with the use of monetary incentives, regulatory restrictions or persuasion. The paper develops an analytic framework to explore this process in two regional cases. The analysis highlights that despite the national constraints, the different regional strategies are increasingly conditioned by the legacies of the past.