LIST OF PANELS

Until the 1970s the provision of public services (public utilities) was, in many countries, characterized by the predominance of the public (State or municipal) sector. This applies also to the provision of social services (with the exception of countries where under the „subsidiarity“ principle the non-for-profit sector was primarily engaged). This public sector centred organisational form of  service  provision held true  for („Western“) advanced welfare state countries as well as for  (East European) Communist/Socialist countries with a centralist State sector. Since the 1980s the public sector has gone through New Public Management-driven modernization which aimed at recasting the internal  structures of the public sector (by replacing traditional „Max Weberian“ features with private sector-derived  „managerialist“ principles) as well as at reorganizing its external operations, essentially including the provision of public and social services  (especially through introducing private sector-typical competition and “privatization”). In EU member countries  this modernization thrust  has been further promoted by the EU’s market liberalization policy targeted at breaking up local („monopolistic“) service provision markets. In East European countries, following the collapse of the communist regimes, the institutional transformation of the “Socialist State” has also been significantly guided by NPM principles and, particularly in EU accession countries, by the EU’s liberalization drive. Notwithstanding country and sector-specific variance this period showed significant cross country convergence in terms of passing from „government“- centred organisational fabric to a pluralisation and “marketization” of public, semi-public (“mixed”),  private for-profit as well as non-public not-for-profit (“NGO”) actors and providers and, in a largely convergent trend, to an institutional web of  actor networks which, in a dominant conceptual debate, has been identified as “governance” structure. Since the late 1990s and early 2000s another thrust of organizational shifts have taken shape which points at different and divergent trajectories. For one, in some countries, in critically and negatively  reappraising the effects of  “market-liberalization” and “privatization” of service delivery  and in „rediscovering“ the potential and assets of the public (municipal) sector service provision a “comeback” of the public/municipal sector and an ensuing  „remunicipalization“ of service provision have gained momentum. By contrast, in other countries,  under the impact of the „sovereign debt“  another wave of  “outsourcing” and “privatizing”  public and social services provision has been set off.  Moreover,  the austerity-inflicted cut-backs in service provision have “from below” called forth “civil society”-type initiatives, protest and self-help groups to take service provision in their own hands. In focusing on this most recent (some call it “post- NPM”) phase of (“external”) public sector modernization in public and social services delivery the proposed panel and the called for papers are expected to contribute to fill the noticeable gap in empirical research and conceptual debate in this matter. At the same time, the proposed panel is considered to link up with, and complement an ongoing  thematically congruent working group that has been formed within the COST Action “Local Public Sector Reform: An International Comparison”.

Until the 1970s the provision of public services (public utilities) was, in many countries, characterized by the predominance of the public (State or municipal) sector. This applies also to the provision of social services (with the exception of countries where under the „subsidiarity“ principle the non-for-profit sector was primarily engaged). This public sector centred organisational form of  service  provision held true  for („Western“) advanced welfare state countries as well as for  (East European) Communist/Socialist countries with a centralist State sector. Since the 1980s the public sector has gone through New Public Management-driven modernization which aimed at recasting the internal  structures of the public sector (by replacing traditional „Max Weberian“ features with private sector-derived  „managerialist“ principles) as well as at reorganizing its external operations, essentially including the provision of public and social services  (especially through introducing private sector-typical competition and “privatization”). In EU member countries  this modernization thrust  has been further promoted by the EU’s market liberalization policy targeted at breaking up local („monopolistic“) service provision markets. In East European countries, following the collapse of the communist regimes, the institutional transformation of the “Socialist State” has also been significantly guided by NPM principles and, particularly in EU accession countries, by the EU’s liberalization drive. Notwithstanding country and sector-specific variance this period showed significant cross country convergence in terms of passing from „government“- centred organisational fabric to a pluralisation and “marketization” of public, semi-public (“mixed”),  private for-profit as well as non-public not-for-profit (“NGO”) actors and providers and, in a largely convergent trend, to an institutional web of  actor networks which, in a dominant conceptual debate, has been identified as “governance” structure. Since the late 1990s and early 2000s another thrust of organizational shifts have taken shape which points at different and divergent trajectories. For one, in some countries, in critically and negatively  reappraising the effects of  “market-liberalization” and “privatization” of service delivery  and in „rediscovering“ the potential and assets of the public (municipal) sector service provision a “comeback” of the public/municipal sector and an ensuing  „remunicipalization“ of service provision have gained momentum. By contrast, in other countries,  under the impact of the „sovereign debt“  another wave of  “outsourcing” and “privatizing”  public and social services provision has been set off.  Moreover,  the austerity-inflicted cut-backs in service provision have “from below” called forth “civil society”-type initiatives, protest and self-help groups to take service provision in their own hands. In focusing on this most recent (some call it “post- NPM”) phase of (“external”) public sector modernization in public and social services delivery the proposed panel and the called for papers are expected to contribute to fill the noticeable gap in empirical research and conceptual debate in this matter. At the same time, the proposed panel is considered to link up with, and complement an ongoing  thematically congruent working group that has been formed within the COST Action “Local Public Sector Reform: An International Comparison”.