Immacolata Caruso, ISSM-CNR, Napoli, Italy
Relational systems between government, firms and local communities in some Mediterranean countries (assigned to theme
The ambition of this paper is not to offer an answer to the complex challenge of improving governance but to enhance the dialogue among the scientific community of the Mediterranean Countries on governance issues. To accomplish this goal, it takes into account the results of the research project “Intermediate Institutions for the growth of “Governance” processes in the Mediterranean Partner Countries (INGOMED), and it proposes an analytical framework for discussing and measuring governance. Its aim is to investigate the effectiveness of governance strategies and how different actors do actually participate to local development processes. In order to obtain indicators of governance processes, INGOMED has taken into account two specific vertical processes: the public utilities management, in particular the water resources management, and the innovation diffusion. The first decision-making process, dealing with a shared common good, could be represented as a general-to-particular flow, from water resources to users. On the contrary, the innovation process starts from the individual, in the form of an invention, to become later on an innovation shared by adopting networks and the society at large. These flows can clearly indicate the evolution of governance in different contexts. Therefore it has been analysed the kind of co-evolution of participatory environments and governance structures through some case studies from selected Mediterranean regions in Maghreb and in Italy. They have been analysed in order to highlight the fact that a satisfactory evolution of the “participatory environment” requires some pre-conditions as for the public authorities are concerned: first of all they should be endowed with competencies about negotiation processes and management; secondly, they should pursue results and networks building, not just the defence of their prerogatives. Moreover, a continuous active participation by the other shareholders (like the private sector and the local communities) implies a full involvement during all the phases of analysis, co-decision, evaluation and control of a project or plan lifecycle. This means that these subjects must have an adequate access to information, to advisory boards and to negotiation with the relevant public bodies. The case studies show how far these conditions are met in different regions. In this regard, the network analysis allows to evaluate the state of participatory processes, their suitability to the institutional environments, and some policy guidelines for enabling local communities to contribute to new forms of multi-level governance.
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