ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses s-regulation, a neologism introduced by the sociologist Donolo, which refers to the ambiguous relation between Italian society and system of rules. In an overall framework of urban and social s-regulation as an effect of regulation that is directly or indirectly criminal, an unusual setting is produced in the form of illegal settlements, and this has effects on the 'weak link' between people and public institutions. By showing the link between discretion and corruption, s-regulation can be described and interpreted as a changing relationship between what is legal and illegal, legitimate and illegitimate, authorized or not: when there is more ample discretion, the levels of corruption are higher. The Italian situation appears complex because the deep-rooted criminal organizations spread, and insert themselves with little effort, into a faulty mechanism, by adding more s-regulation to all the other present and visible forms of s-regulation.
