Exploring How Contexts and Policy Advisory Networks Influence Policy Design Over Time: Insights from Administrative Simplification Policy in Italy (1993-2018)

The paper examines the organization and practices of expert advice in Italy. The case under investigation is the design of administrative simplification policy over the period 1993-2018. Our longitudinal analysis compares major policy packages adopted by four different governments: the technocratic Ciampi government (1993-94); centre-left governments (1996-2001); centre-right government (2008-2011); centre-left governments (2014-2018). This allows for an accurate depiction of context and its transformation over time with regard not only to the composition of government but also to changing pressure from international organizations (EU and OECD) and stakeholders. We rely on a method that has rarely been applied in qualitative comparative policy studies, namely the prosopography of policy advisers who have been involved in the design of the four administrative simplification packages under investigation. By means of prosopography, researchers explore the common background characteristics of a group of actors in history by means of a collective study of their lives. We use prosopography to answer research questions concerning the groups of policy advisers understood as policy networks that proposed solutions to policymakers, thus contributing to the rapidly expanding literature on policy advisory systems and processes. More specifically, we combine document analysis with elite interviews to empirically assess what type of advisers contributed to the design of administrative simplification policy according to their career background, linkages with relevant actors in the policy subsystem, and their role in policymaking. Findings highlight that the configuration of policy networks has changed over time and it has influenced the design of administrative simplification policy in combination with contextual features.