Public Encounters as Venues for Citizen Participation: Probation in Belgium as an Extreme Case to Study the ‘In-Between’
(2024) Midwest Political Science Association Conference — Location: Chicago (4.April.2024)
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- Abstract
- Public encounters, where street-level bureaucrats meet with citizens, have recently been approached as collaborative processes where both parties exercise power. However, how citizens participate in public encounters remains unclear. To fill this gap, we focus on the “in-between” of public encounters, namely, on how the practices of agents and citizens relate to affect the course and outcomes of these interactions. We rely on the literature about administrative resources and burdens to grasp citizen participation in public encounters. We thematically analyzed 68 public encounters between probationers and their probation agent, as well as the problem-centered interviews conducted with most of them. Even in the judicial sector, citizens participate in public service delivery. The results show that, in probation, public encounters may follow different dynamics depending on probationers’ practices and agents’ responses (standardization, control of probationers, opposition, and reciprocity). The analysis primarily reveals the decisive role of probationers’ relationship with the judiciary in their participation. It shapes their experience of probation – i.e., the administrative burdens perceived – and contributes to how they engage in public encounters with probation agents. Eventually, the paper questions the democratization of public services in their daily functioning.
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Ricotta, A. (2024). Public Encounters as Venues for Citizen Participation: Probation in Belgium as an Extreme Case to Study the ‘In-Between’. Midwest Political Science Association Conference, Chicago. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/232734