This study deals with a new policy for disadvantaged areas that has been introduced in Italy since the second half of the 1990s. This policy aims to promote local development based on partnerships between public and private actors. I present research carried out on thirty ‘Territorial Pacts’, analysing their impact at the local level. In some cases the results of the new policy were positive; in others they were very disappointing. Three key factors explain these different results. The first relates to the form of social interaction between local actors (the concertation factor). The second involves the presence or absence of policy entrepreneurs—namely, actors and institutions that ensured a strong and effective process management (the leadership factor). The third involves the political and organisational choices made in both the start-up and implementation phases of the pacts (the continuity factor).
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