Abstract

The Italian port reform introduced a new multi-level governance model in the planning process, reflecting the aim of transforming the port master plan in an integrated spatial and development planning with a time horizon of ten-fifteen years. The paper analyzes two emblematic cases of policy failure represented by the very long term stalemate of decision making concerning new port master plans of Catania and Palermo. Through the reconstruction of the historical trajectories of policy dynamics, the study points out the different turning points and explanatory factors of failures, underlining their consisting with the path dependency and the process sequencing models of policy evolution, the significance of exogenous and endogenous constraints and the role of leadership in the different sequences.