Affiliations: [a] Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative
Methods, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy | [b] Department of Management Strategy, Università
G. Marconi, Roma, Italy
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Maddalena Sorrentino, Department of
Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods, Università degli Studi
di Milano, Via Conservatorio, 7, 20122 Milano, Italy. Tel.: +39 0250321148;
Fax: +39 0250321501; E-mail: maddalena.sorrentino@unimi.it
Abstract: The article aims to contribute to the debate on the role of
e-government in spurring the reorganisation of the public sector and broader
economic development in a period when financial austerity reduces the public
resources available to drive change. The overarching argument here is that the
past constrains what can be done in the future. In other words, the
administrative patterns and attitudes of old determine the speed and breadth of
the new practices championed by the stimulus packages. The paper analyses the
Digital Agenda launched in 2012 by Italy's bipartisan government and discusses
the consequences of this path dependency 'on the ground'. Our findings indicate
that the potential of e-government as an engine of growth and a driver of
large-scale change is thwarted by the policy makers overplaying of cost-cutting
targets rather than transformational targets.
Keywords: E-government, global crisis, public policies, digital agenda, Italy, public reforms
