Citizens Wanted. Changing Roles in the Provision of Public Services in Rural Areas

Abstract

Since the mid-20th century, state interventions and investments have helped rural areas undergo a strong process of modernization (“urbanization”). Due to this de- velopment, the provision of public services is still widely considered to be a top-down process today. Yet this per- ception was never entirely true (when considering, for ex- ample, voluntary fire brigades). Moreover, in the course of loss-making and highly indebted municipal budgets and socio-demographic changes, the division of work be- tween the different actors—whether suppliers, customers or facilitators in this process—is blurred. At the same time, the tasks and quality of service provision are constantly transforming. This paper argues, firstly, that the provision of public services implies a transfer of responsibilities to highly different actors, thus leading to confusion and a lack of public knowledge concerning exact responsi- bilities. Secondly, in this new constellation of actors, also citizens are held responsible. This “responsibilization” ties in with existing roles and is, to a certain degree, accepted by rural populations. Yet, this new complexity also leads to increasing challenges with regard to the steering and facilitating roles of public administrations. The empirical part of the paper deals with three distinct public services: public schools, broadband internet and voluntary fire bri-gades. The analysis shows that in these fields self-responsi- bilization plays a crucial role—yet, not to replace the state as an actor but to adapt public services to new standards or avoid a further degradation of these services.