Abstract

In this article the author discusses the impact of new instruments of public policy in the South of Italy, defined as territorial pacts. The purpose is to compare the ideal normative model, as it is defined by law, with the way in which they have been implemented in practice in Calabria, one of the regions of the Italian Mezzogiorno, characterised by the weakness es of both the productive and political/institutional systems. Using different sources of materials (including interviews with key social actors, newspaper articles and other qualitative data), we tried to verify the supposed link between territorial pact as an incentive for local development or if they represent a simple and new way to reproduce particolarism and clientelism. The attention is particularly focused on the role of institutions in the process of construction of local development, if they represent an obstacle or a stimulus for local development. From the analysis comes out the significant role played by the territorial contest as a place of reinterpretation of central politics and, mainly, the ability of local subjects in implementing ways of development.