La composizione mobile del governo. Il caso della privatizzazione dei servizi di Napoli

This paper examines the effects of the growing presence of management consultants in policy processes. In particular, it addresses the key concern that consultants employed by governments often operate in new institutional arrangements not subject to the formal rules of political systems. It is argued that the hiring of consultants should be seen not as a move from political to apparently neutral, expert forms of policy-making, but as a shift in the arena of political decision-making. Such shifts can contribute to the emergence of «institutional voids» of governance. The paper examines these issues with reference to a case study of consultants working for the Naples government on the privatizations.