Governance, organization and history of italian parliamentary staff

Parliamentary administrations provide support to parliament outside the operating work flow. Governance of parliamentary administrations implies the relationship between political and administrative spheres in order to ensure that staff may effectively support the operating core with non partisan assistance. The Office of Speaker or Bureau is the political apex. The Secretary-General (SG) as administrative top may act as a trait d’union between Members of Parliament and support staff. The SG is only accountable to the Bureau for functioning of services and effectiveness of parliamentary administration. Uncertainty is the fundamental problem for organizations such as parliaments. Public organizations may adapt and change, seeking legitimacy by conforming to institutional pressures. The dichotomy model does not define the total relationship between politicians and administrators but may be conceived as complementary which implies distinctness but the emphasis on how each contributes to the whole: politicians may freely make decisions but cannot deny the advisory role and policy-advising activity of the administration. The aim of this paper is to elucidate that political contingencies and institutional pressures have historically exerted influence on the organizational change of Italian parliamentary administrations leading to mechanism of governance and organization since 1861 to the appointment of the SG as advisor on procedure and law within Chamber of Deputies (1907) and the appointment of the SG at the Senate of Kingdom (1929). This study relies on archival and qualitative data. I made a review of literature on governance and organization of parliamentary administrations in the fields of law and history.