The Management System of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP): Institutional Framework and Organizational Changes in Light of the Theory of Multilevel Governance

This paper contributes to the research on public governance and aims to investigate, based on the theory of multilevel governance, the framework established by the Italian government for the management of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) through the decree-law of May 31, 2021, No. 77, and the subsequent modifications made by the decree-law of February 24, 2023, No. 13. This topic is of great relevance to public management studies because a coherent institutional design aligned with the issues evaluated by policy-makers constitutes the first step of public intervention, and the NRRP represents the most significant direct public intervention in the Italian economy since the extraordinary intervention in the Southern Italy organized by Law No. 646 of August 10, 1950. The theory of multilevel governance is the most suitable approach to guide the scientific analysis of the phenomenon under study. The achievement of the objectives identified at the European level and planned at the national level through the NRRP, following negotiations with the EU, relies on the ability of the central government of Italy to ensure coordination and monitoring of the activities carried out by a diverse network of autonomous entities responsible for implementing the planned interventions. Therefore, the present work, with a scope focused solely on the organizational and managerial structures of the Plan, and employing a theoretical investigative methodology, adhering to the principles of the Italian school of business economics derived from Zappian tradition, demonstrates the overall coherence of the model adopted by the Italian State for managing the NRRP concerning the key issues raised in the scientific discourse on multilevel governance of public policies. This allows the theory of public governance to take a step forward in evaluating the renewed leadership role assumed by the central government level, with specific reference to a case like Italy’s, where policy implementation needs to be contextualized within an institutional system characterized by significant decisional polycentrism.