Fragmentation and intergovernmental conflict during the Covid-19 crisis. The complex relationship between national and regional governments in Italy

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis has triggered political tensions involving different levels of government. Italy constitutes a paradigmatic example of such problems. The powers assigned to regional presidents as a result of the dynamics of presidentialization make them key players in Italy’s fragmented multilevel system. The article aims to demonstrate that the conflict between national and regional governments during the pandemic has been based mainly on polity reasons, that is regional governments’ ambition to strengthen their autonomy, rather than on policy arguments. The Covid-19 crisis in Italy has taken the form of an intergovernmental conflict over the balance of authority between central and regional governments. This state of affairs has complicated the attempts at establishing a satisfactory level of coordination between the levels of government, has resulted in a fragmented response to the crisis, and has triggered a systemic conflict between levels of government.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid-19
• presidentialization
• Italian regionalism
• fragmentation
• intergovernmental conflict
• multilevel governance

Acknowledgments

The author thank the organizers and the participants to the panel ‘Crisis and Political Stability in Southern Europe: From the Economic Crisis to the Covid-19 Pandemic’ at the ECPR virtual general conference for their valuable observations to an early version of this work. He is also very grateful to the Editors and the three anonymous reviewers for the useful comments.

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Supported by a parliamentary majority composed by Italy Alive (IV), Five Star Movement (M5S), Democratic Party (PD), and Free and Equal (LeU).

2 Supported by a parliamentary majority composed by The League (L), Go Italy (FI), Italy Alive (IV), Five Star Movement (M5S), Democratic Party (PD), and Free and Equal (LeU).