Abstract

This article analyzes the evolution of policies against irregular work in Italy in the last two decades, using the coexistence of two distinct policy paradigms as interpretative lens. Policy change has been influenced by the affirmation of a specific value and cognitive model which recognizes latent entrepreneurial dynamics in areas of irregular work, interacting with the shifting political salience of the issue. The emergence of a new paradigm of potential development did not induce a revolutionary breakdown of the antecedent infringement of legality paradigm, but determined: a) an adaptive evolution of the pre-existing and still prevailing formalistic-legal approach, b) a multiplication of actors involved in the formulation and implementation of such policy, both at central and local level.