THE POLITICS OF CHILDCARE IN SOUTHERN EUROPE: DIFFERENT TRENDS AND OUTCOMES IN ITALIAN AND SPANISH REGIONS

Italy and Spain have been traditionally characterized by underdeveloped childcare and persistent familism in the provision of care (Ferrera 1996, 2005a). However, in the last two decades, childcare has undergone an expansionary as well as divergent trajectory in Italy and Spain. An high childcare expansion coincided with the increase of public delivery and level of inclusiveness in Spain. By contrast, childcare expansion in Italy was moderate, driven by private sector and less inclusive than in Spain. Therefore, childcare policy change in both countries has varied along three analytical dimensions: the extent of expansion, the way childcare is delivered and the level of inclusiveness. The latter – if combined with the delivery of high quality service - is particularly relevant to achieve effective social investment aims on childcare reforms (Bonoli 2017; West et. al. 2019). In both countries regional governments hold key competences on the three dimensions of change (expansion, delivery and social investment). Due to a decentralized policy setting, Italian and Spanish regions distribute financial resources to the lower level of childcare implementation. Against this backdrop, we develop an empirical analysis of regional childcare trajectory in order to understand the determinants of Italian and Spanish divergence on childcare expansion, delivery and social investment. Trough an in-depth reconstruction of policy-making processes in four regional cases – Andalusia, Rioja, Tuscany and Piedmont - we show that government colours and political competition dynamics still matter for childcare expansion. Also, political competition dynamics – rather than government colour – turn to be relevant to explain the shift from a social assistance to a social investment approach on childcare. Finally, political exchange dynamics between service providers, interested to expand their childcare supply, and governments looking for political support and sharing responsibilities on childcare policy, are crucial to explain changes on childcare delivery.