Citizen Participation in the Age of Contracting: When Service Delivery Trumps Democracy

Abstract

Citizen Participation in the Age of Contracting: When Service Delivery Trumps Democracy examines how and why public and private managers look to engage citizen participation in contract governance. Beginning in the 1960’s two trends emerged: government contracting with the private sector for social services delivery and opportunities to engage citizens in governance. The authors’ study focuses on the nexus of these trends by examining the use of citizen participation in social service contracts. The authors’ literature review makes up the first two chapters. They summarize their methods in the third chapter, presenting them in greater detail in the appendices. They discuss the study’s results in chapters four through eight. The authors’ overall conclusion is that contract managers have not effectively engaged citizens in contract governance.