Can Austerity Lead to Recentralisation? Italian Local Government during the Economic Crisis Silvia Bolgherini The relationship between the remarkable changes that have occurred at the local level and the overlapping crises affecting Italy in recent years has yet to be fully tackled by political scientists. This article aims to contribute to the debate by arguing that anti-crisis measures have also produced structural effects that may actually weaken Italian local autonomies, suggesting the existence of an ongoing recentralisation. Several major questions are addressed: is such a trend inversion (from decentralisation to recentralisation) really taking place? Which dimensions should be analysed to detect it? What outcomes and effects have these measures provoked in Italian local government? Keywords: Italy; Local Government; Eurozone Crisis; Decentralisation; Recentralisation The global financial crisis that exploded in the United States (US) in 2007–08 and the Eurozone crisis affecting European Union (EU) member states since 2009–10 have prompted European countries to re-examine, among other major issues, the role of central states and of local autonomies. While there is no question that decentralisation has been one of the major trends in Europe since the 1960s, with a peak in the 1990s (Sharpe 1979; 1993; Bobbio 2002), some doubt may be cast on its enduring dominance in the current period, opening up the possibility that a different trend has begun. Due to the impact of the above-mentioned crises, the drive towards decentralisation seems in fact to have come to an end, paving the way for recentralisation in the hands of the central authorities, mainly realised through austerity measures. The shift towards this renewed role of the centre is often tied in with the debate about the global and Eurozone crises, as a stronger role of central governments may be justified by the need to tackle urgent issues rapidly and effectively (Hodson 2011, p. 9; Dyson 2012, p. 796; Fabbrini 2013, p. 1022). This new ‘central empowerment’ may also impact on local government. The aim of this article is to investigate whether this is occurring in the Italian case. q 2014 Taylor & Francis FSES 895086—7/3/2014—SEKARC—475445—FSeries South European Society and Politics, 2014 Vol. 00, No. 0, 1–22, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2014.895086 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40