Institutions, Social Capital and Distributive Dynamics in Development Policies in Calabria

The paper analyses the impact of the Integrated Territorial Projects on local development in two areas of Calabria. The Integrated Territorial Projects consist of a set of integrated interventions that are aimed to promote local development. To achieve this objective, integrated planning seeks to promote an adequate mobilisation of the economic and relational resources operating on a local scale. Development thus becomes a social construction connected to the endogenous capacity of public and private actors to promote synergistic actions on a local scale, thereby enhancing local resources and skills, social capital and institutions. The paper examines in the two experiences studied the concrete implementation given to development policy based on governance. The analysis is oriented to understanding if local political and economic stakeholders have developed relational networks that are able to promote effective intervention strategies and connect them with the real potential present on a local scale to support self-sustaining development processes. In the case study discussed, limited regulation capability in local political institutions has caused two effects on decision-making processes: an equal distribution of resources among the participants and the temporal concentration of public expenditures.