Including ourselves: New Labour and engagement with public services

Abstract

Increasing participation in public service issues is a central theme in New Labour’s “modernisation” programme. This concerns service delivery issues but also connects to a broader concern for “democratic renewal”. Underpinning this is New Labour’s continuation of the attempt to re‐shape and redefine the welfare state by the construction of “active citizens”. Active choice is a central theme of the “third way”, which requires that governments recognise the need for reflexive citizens to secure “ontological security” through choice. New Labour then attempts to secure social cohesion by a communitarian appeal to duty and responsibility, central themes in its re‐structuring of welfare services. This exhortation to participate can be seen as a “technology of government”, and, drawing on the Foucauldian concept of “governmentality”, we can see how it is an attempt to “make up” citizens who “take responsibility for themselves”, allowing the government to “control at a distance”.