The aim of this course is to frame the main public decision-making processes and legal institutions that allow you to trace the process, as well as the methods to intervene in the various phases of the procedure and the moments of opening to external interests. At the same time, some practices characterized by informality and areas of opacity in the processes will be mentioned.

Starting from the constitutional framework, the subjects of the regulatory and administrative functions will be identified at different levels of government to understand their admission rules and decision-making dynamics.

Some legal, transparency, participation and accountability tools will be raised for citizens and informal and organized subjects, in order to trace the regulatory processes and evaluate their interaction with public and private interests.  

Additionally, the principle of horizontal subsidiarity and participation will be specifically taken into consideration and will also do a focus on corruption prevention referring to the risk of illegitimate influence between public and private powers.
Considering the participatory tools and the interaction between the private interests, and their organizations, and the public power, the right and regulation of lobbying will be identified, following the European and US models, as well as the recent Italian reform proposal.

The program may undergo variations that will be timely communicated before the beginning of the lessons.

·  Presentation of the course

a. The concepts of Interests

b. Organized and pressure groups

c. The concept of power (which will be taken as reference)

d. Public decisions and policies and what is meant by representation and regulation

f. "Lobbying" as "value" and as "risk", cases and topicality

·  The skills of public decision-making powers

a. The "State-Archipelago", public decisions, complexity

b. State competence

c. Regional competences

d. Local competences

f. The competences of the European Union

e. The independent authorities

g. Multilevel of governance

h. The role of international organizations

·  The legislative initiative

a. Legislative power

b. The legislative decision between constitutional theory and practice

c. The strange case of the “Milleproroghe”

d. Impact and quality of law regulation at regional and state level. Air and VIR and the Better Regulation instruments

·  Public decision-makers: role and access

a. The "political" decision-makers the rules of access and responsibilities

b. Bureaucratic decision-makers: political-administration distinction and access

c. Equal opportunities

d. The offices of direct collaboration and the roles of management

·  Category of organizations

a. Groups and organization

b. The formal organic representation of professional orders

c. The representation of local authorities through the representative associations

d. The right of association and function of self-government of the categories

f. "Opening" of public authorities and the influence of the interests organized by the procedural decision-making processes

·  Decision-making processes and general decisions

a. Administrative procedure and public decisions

b. The entry of interest: which tools

·  c. The case of municipal urban planning

d. The role of transparency

f. Public debate: models and experiences

g. Co-decision in complex administrative procedures

·  Subsidiarity and role of organized interests

a. Horizontal and vertical subsidiaries

b. The Italian shared administration system: between citizens and organized interests

c. Informal organizations and the third sector

d. The principle means of co-design for planning and programming policies with the so called “third sector”

e. The case of common goods

·  The transparency of public decision-making processes

a. Transparency as a constitutional principle

b. Traceability and reasoning of decisions

c. Generalized access to information

d. Foia, its approval and the role of foia4italy

c. Right to information comparative models: EU, Spain, Great Britain and the USA

·  The administrative procedure and "punctual" decisions

a. The procedure and dynamics open to qualified interest

b. Participation in the administrative procedure

c. The motivation of the administrative provision

d. The transparency of the single provision

f. Types of access rights: access by the councillor, access to personal data, document access, access to public procurement, etc.

·  Decision-making processes and subjective measures to prevent the "capture" of the public decision-maker

Some preventive administrative measures:

a. The conflict of interest

b. Abstention

c. Publication of relevant information for political and technical roles

·  Between public and private

a. The authorities of the regulated markets

b. The government of healthcare service and pressure groups

c. The spaces reserved for bargaining between public and private

·  The right to lobbying

a. The European "promotional" lobbying regulation model

b. The US Lobbying regulation model 

c. The non-Italian lobbying model 

d. Regional lobbying regulation

The risks

e. The case of trafficking of illegal influences

f. The lobbyist and the role of transparency

·  “Anticorruption. Policies, rules, models "

a. The corruption risk

b. What is corruption

c. The Merida Convention

d. The Greco

The prevention of corruption and administrative rules

f. What is the abuse of office

·  Discussion of individual/ group works

Knowledge and understanding skills: participants should acknowledge how administrative procedures and public decision-making processes work and recognize their dynamics participation and control tools.

Implemented Knowledge and understanding skills: the members will have to read scientific papers and get familiar with the rules of public decision -making processes, as well.

Autonomy of judgment: members should be able to access the main technical and digital tools, available for citizens and scholars, so to monitor and trace the work of public powers, starting from the institutional sites. Furthermore, they should prove to know the course main points, by relating theory and practice of participation, transparency, and representation of formal and informal interests.

Communication skills: at the end of the course, members must demonstrate that they have substantially learned the concepts and acquired a suitable legal language.

Learning ability: participants  should learn a method of analysis that will enable them to expand their knowledge over time through autonomous research based on the elements acquired during the course.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Seminars and focus on specific subject by external experts 

Frontal lessons 

Teaching

The lessons will be fronts with the aid of slides and in-depth materials to show during a lesson. In addition, attendants are asked to deepen some topics, chosen together with the teacher to be developed through individual and group works (to be presented in the classroom).

Attendance

Frontal lessons with the aid of slides and materials made available by the teacher and some seminar activities on specific themes of the course.

Attendants are demanded to be present and discuss an essay or a dissertation on the course themes and the materials suggested by the teacher.

Course books

Francesco Merloni, Istituzioni di Diritto Amministrativo, Torino, Giappichelli, 2022 (capitoli: 8,9, 10, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23).

Enrico Carloni, L'amministrazione Aperta, Regole strumenti limiti dell'open government, Santarcangelo di Romagna, Maggioli, 2014 (capitoli: 3, 4, 5 e 8).

Assessment

Oral exam to test the knowledge of monographic materials, issues and notions raised during the frontal lessons and contained in the slides. 

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Frontal lessons with the aid of slides and materials made available by the teacher, and some seminar activities on specific themes of the course. 

It is possible to get material used during the lessons, accessing to the "blended" area of the teaching on the website of the University, and it is possible to have a personal meeting asking the teacher by e-mail

Attendance

Study of the books suggested 

Course books

Francesco Merloni, Istituzioni di Diritto Amministrativo, Torino, Giappichelli, 2022 (capitoli: 8,9, 10, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23).

Enrico Carloni, L'amministrazione Aperta, Regole strumenti limiti dell'open government, Santarcangelo di Romagna, Maggioli, 2014 (capitoli: 3, 4, 5 e 8).

Pierluigi Petrillo, Teorie e tecniche del lobbying, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019 (capitoli: 1 e 2).

Assessment

Oral exam to assess the knowledge on the study materials adopted and indicated above.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Attending members are invited to write a paper (preferably in groups) or just present a PowerPoint, and in any case give a preview of an oral presentation in front of the classroom, on a course-related theme, chosen together with the teacher, which will also be the subject of a specific lesson, dedicated to compare all the projects presented. This will allow each student to get a partial score in the final oral exam.