Italy

Why do governments create semi-autonomous public organizations, called 'agencies'? How do agency types and their prevalence differ across countries and time? How are agencies controlled and held accountable? How autonomous are they? How have (post)-New Public Management ideas affected agencification policies in Europe and beyond? How do governments attempt to restore transparency and coordination in a fragmented agency landscape? And what can practitioners and policy makers learn from international experiences? The volume describes and compare how semi-autonomous agencies are created and governed in 29 countries and the EU. The contibution offers a rich empirical overview of the Italian experience