E-Government for small local government organizations

The Italian National Centre for Information Technology in Public Administration (CNIPA) introduced the concept of Local Alliances for Innovation (ALI) as the tool for the inclusion of small municipalities in the spread of E-Government in Italy. Based on the CNIPA's definition, the paper discusses the concept of ALI as an organizational model that can be resorted to in order to reduce the administrative fragmentation of the system of Local Government in Italy. By elaborating on the relation between the ALI model and the model of inter-municipal cooperation, the paper considers under what conditions an ALI could evolve into an Integrated System of Local Government, that is a system of Local Government Organizations strictly interoperable. Since it determines a form of virtual integration among the partners, an ISLG allows a simplification of the system of Local Government while preserving the autonomy of its members.