Models of Local Public Service Delivery: Privatisation, Publicisation and the Renaissance of the Cooperative?

Abstract

After years of privatisation, remunicipalisation has now become a central issue in contemporary debate about modernisation of public services. However, the term ‘remunicipalisation’ does not accurately capture the phenomenon. The development of ‘bringing the public sector back in’ is not limited to the local level but also affects federal and EU levels. In this context, the neologism ‘publicisation’ is appropriate. Recognising publicisation as a concept, draws attention to a specific form of organisation which has so far been almost completely absent from academic debates although it is becoming more common in administrative practice: the cooperative. In Germany, the cooperative is increasingly becoming involved in local service delivery and was recently declared ‘trendsetting as a model for cooperation in municipalities and for innovative future management in municipalities’.