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Digitalization and welfare state centralization and decentralization: the case of employment assistance in Italy and Denmark

soh.egb@cbs.dk · 09/10/2025 ·

Author: Anna di Palma

Abstract

Recent research on the welfare state has questioned whether digital tools transform or reinforce traditional institutional features and power relations. Building on arguments about the decentralizing effects of digitalization, this study examines whether, and under what conditions, digitalization has had a centralizing effect on welfare multi-level reconfigurations. Focusing on employment assistance, where standardized tools for collecting local data are increasingly demanded by central governments, it compares Italy and Denmark through a qualitative case study. Preliminary findings indicate that digitalization produced little governance change in Italy, whereas hybrid centralization–decentralization dynamics emerged in Denmark. These differences are explained by contrasting inter-institutional coordination mechanisms: weak political and technical coordination in Italy hindered national tool adoption, while Denmark’s strong vertical ties and institutionalized bargaining facilitated both centralizing and decentralizing shifts. Future research should expand the geographical scope  and further investigate political factors shaping governance reconfigurations in the digital agel

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