The policy framing of social sustainability at the national scale: The role of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development

The debate concerning the social dimension of sustainability, which mainly refers to transnational agendas, has generated different interpretations without reaching a standard definition. The "ambiguity" of the social dimension of sustainability encourages the development of multiple interpretations and opens space for discussion among different actors and ideas in policymaking. The public policy literature analyzes the role of actors in different stages of the policy development process, highlighting their influence in the transfer of ideas. This research then focused on analyzing the framing of social sustainability in Italy, with particular attention to the role covered by a network of experts: the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS). The knowledge network, created by civil society, was established to translate the goals of the UN Agenda into policy proposals for Italy through various actions, including supporting the development of national and local policy strategies. The questions guiding the research are: What are ASviS' normative and cognitive ideas about social sustainability? How does ASviS translate these ideas into policies on a national scale? What strategies does it employ to disseminate them and influence policy framing on social sustainability? The research draws on the literature on policy transfer and the socio-political analysis of the role of experts in policymaking, such as epistemic communities, knowledge networks and think tanks. The methodology adopted is qualitative and applies a discursive analysis based on several artifacts collected between 2021 and 2023: materials produced by the expert network, interviews and focus groups with ASviS members, and field notes derived from observations of participant and non-participant sessions. Artifact analysis combined two approaches: discursive neo-institutionalism and grounded theory. The research identified eight normative ideas in the ASviS discourse on social sustainability: social justice, intergenerational equity, social cohesion, sustainable culture, One Health, participation, accountability, and peace. In addition, three diffusion mechanisms were identified that support the work of ASviS, demonstrating its role as a transfer agent in the field of sustainability policy. Finally, a nexus emerged between the values promoted, particularly intergenerational equity, sustainable culture, social cohesion and participation, and four national policy solutions (outcomes) adopted at the national scale. This research tries to contribute to advancing policy transfer and global public policy literature, and the case offers empirical insights into how transnational policies are translated at the national scale by highlighting actions promoted by non-institutional and expert actors. The analysis of the 'ASviS case highlights the discursive and diffusion mechanisms through which global agendas are translated by highlighting the capacity for agency in transnational policy processes and the influence of expertise on policy framing.