Conclusions: Still Risking Implementation Gaps

Continuity and differentiation elements in the administrative reform cycles are considered from the perspective of implementation, and its gaps. The reformist seasons of the last 25 years mostly shared the same principles, goals and weaknesses in their implementation phases. The vicious cycle of administrative reforms has not been defused: the widespread disagreement in the policy community against further waves of comprehensive reform is an indicator of a persistent low degree of practical implementation, and rather of the prevalence of contradictory effects with respect to reforming principles and goals, like the performance evaluation introduced by statute in 2009. Creeping resistance within administrations is a constant presence, apparently unaffected by several waves of normative innovation. Notwithstanding the recent call for “concreteness” of the Five-Star Movement and League “government of change”, we find that the lack of empirical, in-depth organizational analysis gives the real measure of current complexity to be dealt with.