Co-Production and Public Service Management

4Citizens as Co-Producers of Welfare Services

Childcare in Eight European Countries

A. Introduction

What role should the state and market play in the provision of welfare services? Should the state provide most welfare services, as it does today in the Scandinavian universal or Social Democratic welfare states, or should services be privatized and provided by the market, as proposed by neo-liberals? This is a hotly debated issue in all European countries and one of the main, if not the main question posed to the voters in most European elections in the last 30 to 35 years. As hotly debated as it is, it fails to consider the potential role of civil society, or the third sector and citizens. What role should the third sector play in providing ...