Beyond mayors and great men: effectiveness, policy leadership and accountability in Italian local government

In Italy, institutional reforms have brought radical changes to local politics. nonetheless, the effect of changes on policy performance has been less evident. This paper proposes an analysis of government effectiveness in four cases of social service provision in two Italian cities, using the most similar systems design. Starting from theories of organisational effectiveness, the paper discusses the influence of policy leadership and perceptions of transparency in overcoming resistance and avoiding institutional conflicts between the council and the executive. Through the collection of official documents and semi-structured interviews, policymaking in social assistance is reconstructed from the inside.