Understanding Street-Level Participation: Citizen-Bureaucrat Relationships in Multi-Episodic Public Encounters

Ricotta, Anthony;Moyson, Stéphane;Schiffino-Leclercq, Nathalie
(2024) European Group for Public Administration Conference 2024 — Location: Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece (3.September.2024)

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Recent studies have shown that public encounters can be venues of collaboration, where citizens exercise power over service delivery. How citizens engage in public encounters and their power in these interactions is increasingly studied. Yet, little research considers multi-episodic public encounters between one citizen and one civil servant. We focus on the “in-between” to account for citizens’ participation in multi-episodic public encounters. We rely on the literature on procedural (un)fairness and administrative burdens. Using an ethnographic approach that combines observations of public encounters and interviews with citizens and officials, we study a specific case of multi-episodic interactions: probation in Belgium. Preliminary findings from the first phase of our research suggest that multi-episodic encounters, characterized by procedural fairness and minimal burdens, contribute to the emergence of constructive citizen-bureaucrat relationships and, eventually, empower citizens. Conversely, when perceived as unfair, they may nourish burdens and consolidate the defiant stance of other citizens. Eventually, our study suggests that multi-episodic public encounters may not only empower some citizens, but they can reshape their relationship with state institutions, thereby contributing to pacify citizen-state relationships.
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Ricotta, A., Moyson, S., & Schiffino-Leclercq, N. (2024). Understanding Street-Level Participation: Citizen-Bureaucrat Relationships in Multi-Episodic Public Encounters. European Group for Public Administration Conference 2024, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/232738