Politics, power and the economy in Rome: continuity and change in an urban regime

The article focuses on the relationships between politics and economic and business interests in Rome, in the period starting from the nineties, during which a process of neo-liberalization has taken place, but setting the analysis against a background of a wider timescale. Such relationships are investigated adopting as an analytical guide these questions: what functions are specifically exercised by politics? In what way are they carried out? What are the institutional and organisational links that have developed for this purpose over the course of the years in the field of local governance? The article makes use of three main theoretical and methodological tools: (I) urban regime theory, (II) neo-liberal and neo-liberalisation theories and (III) a discursive analysis of politics. The relationships analysed present important elements of historical continuity. The main function played by politics within the urban regime consists of mediation between the interests and strategies of the different fractions of capitalist interests. Since significant changes have occurred in the fonts supplying those resources needed to feed processes of economic growth, the way this function is carried out has been adapted as well as the nature of the urban regime itself.