Abstract

The article analyses the problem of information sharing among local social services authorities from a governance perspective. By recourse to an in depth-case study on Piemonte region, the research aims at examining the main obstacles preventing coordination between actors and at high-lightening the strategies adopted in order to achieve it. Four ideal-typical models of coordination are identified and discussed, based respectively on trust, incentive, imposition, and technical solutions. It will be argued that the will to overcome the hierarchical model of "information debt" can be hampered by asymmetries that prevents the development of a participative approach, but also by the loss of legitimacy hierarchy itself.