Public and Civic Social Services: Potentials for Participatory Democracy

It is argued that in the future, provision of welfare services will rely more on the involvement of the family and social networks when it comes to caring for children and the elderly, and on the local community and third-sector organisations in relation to social and economic obligations towards the poor and disadvantaged social groups. In this chapter, Boje discusses some of the questions related to the collaboration of welfare state and organised civil society: to what extent does the involvement of civic organisations facilitate the empowering of citizens? How might it be possible to balance the interests of special social groups represented by the civic organisations with the universal interests of citizens represented by the welfare state? The focus is on the provision of social services and the role played by the civic organisations.