Different Degrees of Politicisation Within Staff Offices: Insights from the Italian Case

The paper focuses on the staff offices supporting Italian executive politicians (formally labelled offices of direct collaboration but commonly called cabinets). As studies have shown, Italian staff offices constitute large executive and advisory structures that occupy a crucial position within the administrative system. Italian staff offices supporting executive politicians are usually headed by a head of cabinet and are structured into a series of sub-units (legislative office, technical secretariat, secretariat, press office). The text examines the biographical profiles of the individuals appointed to the positions of head of cabinet and head of the various sub-units into which the staff offices are divided. Relying on an original hand-compiled database constructed through consultation of CVs and other sources, the text highlights the different degrees of politicisation which can be found in staff offices supporting Italian executive politicians. Findings show that non-partisan public servants are traditionally appointed to certain positions (heads of cabinet and heads of legislative offices). On the contrary, a greater degree of politicisation is visible in other positions (e.g., heads of technical secretariats, heads of secretariats, heads of press offices). The text therefore provides new evidence for the literature on staff offices and, more generally, on public administration, shedding light on the peculiar Italian case, which shows how politicisation essentially affects the second level of top positions within staff offices. Giulio Francisci is a fixed-term researcher at the Department of Law, Economics, Politics, and Modern Languages of the LUMSA University (Rome). His research focuses on policy advice and on the career backgrounds of the members of the Italian executive triangle. His work has been recently published in European Policy Analysis and the Italian Journal of Public Policy.