Can Quasi-market and Multi-level Governance Co-exist? Insights from the Case of Lombardy’s Employment Services System

This article explores the functioning of Lombardy’s networked employment services system, inspired by quasi-market and horizontal subsidiarity principles, and specifically addresses a gap in the quasi-market literature, where little attention is devoted to the role played by institutions at lower levels of government. A qualitative study of the Lombardy system, with a focus on the municipality of Milan, is relied upon in order to explore the extent to which the principles of quasi-market and multi-level governance pursued by the regional government are allowed to co-exist in practice. Here, sub-regional levels of government are directly involved in services provision, but enjoy a more privileged condition relative to the private providers, thereby jeopardizing the implementation of an effective quasi-market. The article contributes to existing theories by suggesting that horizontal subsidiarity and marketization cannot neglect multi-level governance in those sectors where public bodies at various levels of government are directly involved in implementation.