Motivated for Active Citizenship: Citizens’ Changing Role in the Provision of Public Services

This paper aims to discuss the changing role of citizens in the provision of public services. It does so by focusing on the interaction between two levels: the society and the individual. Changes in society require a different role of citizens and have also altered government’s role. At the individual level, these changes in turn influence a citizen’s own viewpoint about his or her role in society. Viewpoints on the role of both government and citizens in society are reflected in the type of “civil society” (Andeweg and Irwin 2002: 69). Because of the specific position the Netherlands has within the governance-debate (Peters and Pierre 1998: 224), it is interesting to look at changes in the Dutch civil society in more depth. At the beginning of the 20th century, Dutch civil society was characterized by ‘pillarization’. Citizens’ role in politics was limited as the societal system did not expect a much active role from individual citizens, while the citizens themselves accepted the elite’s authority. This changed, however, from approximately the 1960s and 1970s when criticisms towards the political system grew (Andeweg and Irwin 2002: 41). Many observers in these years were concerned about a at first sight declining participation of citizens in society; e.g., declining electoral turnout and a loosening connecting between parties and supporters. This concern was certainly not only heard in the Netherlands (cf. Fahrmeir 2007). However, it was not so much that citizens became less active as well as that their role in society changed by a replacement of the more traditional forms of participation by new, more horizontal forms of interaction between government and citizens (Duyvendak & Krouwel 2001: 19). Citizens’ emancipation, caused by depillarization, was accompanied by a development of stronger feelings of citizenship in which citizens’ expectations about government and government policy were (still) growing. This trend was also visible in other countries during the “golden years of the welfare state” (Reuter and Zimmer 2011; Peters and Pierre 1998: 235). At the same time, the role of the government altered as well. Pierre and Peters (2000: 4-5) summarize this ‘governance’ development: “[p]reviously, government enjoyed an unrivalled position in society in that it was the obvious locus of political power and authority ... In the current perspective ... states are becoming increasingly dependent on other societal actors.” As a result, the societal system expects a more active role of social organizations and emphasizes the personal responsibility of citizens. This paper aims to get insight in the way both government and citizens respond to these changes in society and in the altered and diverse roles that are the result of this. Van den Brink (2002: 16) argues that the concept of citizenship is built on different layers. Each layer demarcates its own roles, responsibilities and viewpoints. This will be illustrated by discussing three cases. Within the provision of public services, government searches for ways how to engage citizens and how to give them the ‘voice’ they are asking for. However, citizens themselves are also searching for ways in which to actively engage in service provision. We analyze the role of citizens in two cases that deal with client participation in schools and health care organizations. Next to this, a third case is discussed, concerning projects for the provision of ‘green energy’ initiated and carried out by a citizen-cooperation. In contrast to the first two cases, where government takes initiatives to set up participatory structures, the latter case deals with a form of service delivery in which citizens take the initiatives and have a more direct role as co-producer. Analyzing the division of tasks and responsibilities as well as the structures of the ‘partnerships’ within these three cases makes it possible to explore the different elements that are part of the concept of citizenship, the different roles and interpretations of those roles, and the viewpoints and expectations government and citizens have about each other. References: Andeweg, R.B. and G.A. Irwin (2002). Governance and Politics of the Netherlands. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Duyvendak, J.W. & A. Krouwel (2001). “Interactieve beleidsvorming: voortzetting van een rijke Nederlandse traditie?” In: Edelenbos, J. & R. Monnikhof (eds.). Lokale interactieve beleidsvorming. 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