The Democratization of Welfare Between Rhetoric and Reality: Local Planning, Participation, and Third Sector in Italy

Abstract The third sector, traditionally considered in the Italian welfare state as a residual actor of social policies, has increasingly engaged itself in various types of partnerships and collaborative planning processes with the local authority in recent years. In the rethoric of the reform of welfare, third sector organisations display an important role, for they contribute to regenerate local democracy, stimulate communities, and fight social exclusion. The article examines 12 local area plans, which have been realized in 8 regions of Italy since the 2000, by relying on empirical data and interviews. The article concludes that the so-called co-governance of a local welfare can produce very different leves of democratization and improvement of social programs. In some areas, it may be that valorizing the third sector can effectively renew social policies, whilst in others the exact reverse may happen. The article offers an analysis of the main factors that influenced this results. Key words: third sector, local planning, governance, partnership, south European welfare systems.