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Apublic service orservice of general (economic) interest is anyservice intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community,[1][2] whether provided directly by apublic sector agency, via public financing available to private businesses or voluntary organisations, or provided by private businesses subject to a high level of government regulation. Some public services are provided on behalf of a government's residents or in theinterest of its citizens. The term is associated with a social consensus (usually expressed through democraticelections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless ofincome,physical ability ormental acuity. Examples of such services include thefire services,police,air force,paramedics andpublic service broadcasting.
Even where public services are neither publicly provided norpublicly financed, they are usually subject toregulation going beyond that applying to mosteconomic sectors for social and political reasons.Public policy,[3] when made in the public's interest and with its motivations, is a type of public service.
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In moderndeveloped countries, the term "public services" (or "services of general interest") often includes:[4]
Indeveloping countries, public services tend to be much less well developed. For example, water services might only be available to thewealthymiddle class. Forpolitical reasons, the service is oftensubsidized, which reduces the finance potentially available for expansion topoorer communities.[citation needed] The United NationsSustainable Development Goal 5 is, however, a global initiative which aims to influence the provision of public services and infrastructure for marginalized demographics.[5]
Governing bodies have long provided core public services. The tradition of keeping citizens secure through organized military defense dates to at least four thousand years ago.[6]
Maintaining order through local delegated authority originated at least as early as theWarring States period (5th to 3rd centuries BCE) in ancient China with the institution ofxiàn (prefectures) under the control of a centrally appointed prefect. Historical evidence of state provision ofdispute resolution through a legal/justice system goes back at least as far as ancient Egypt.[7]
A primary public service in ancient history involved ensuring the general favor of thegods through a theologically and ceremonially correctstate religion.[8]
The widespread provision ofpublic utilities as public services in developed countries usually began in the late nineteenth century, often with themunicipal development ofgas andwater services. Later, governments began to provide other services such aselectricity andhealth care. In most developed countries, local or national governments continue to provide such services, the biggest exceptions being theU.S. and theUK, where private provision is arguably proportionally more significant.[9] Nonetheless, such privately provided public services are often strongly regulated, for example (in the US) byPublic Utility Commissions.
Examples noted in a history of public services inOxford include street-repair, cleansing, andlighting, drainage and sewage disposal, water, gas and electricity supply, police and fire services, the Post Office, transport, hospital services, and the provision ofbaths, parks andcemeteries.[10]
A public service may sometimes have the characteristics of apublic good (being non rivalrous and non excludable), but most are services which may (according to prevailingsocial norms) be under-provided by themarket. In most cases public services areservices, i.e. they do not involve manufacturing ofgoods. They may be provided by local or national monopolies, especially in sectors that arenatural monopolies.
They may involve outputs that are hard to attribute to specific individual effort or hard to measure in terms of key characteristics such as quality. They often require high levels of training and education. They may attract people with a public service ethos who wish to give something to the wider public or community through their work.
The process of assessing the needs of the people of an area, and then designing and securing an appropriate public service to meet those needs, is often referred to in the UK ascommissioning.[11] The commissioned services may be delivered by organisations in the public sector,private sector orthird sector:[12] when the private or third sector is involved the process of commissioning will usually be linked with a process ofprocurement, to determine who will provide the services, at what cost and on what terms. Commissioning is often seen as a cyclical process.[11]
Public services can be constructed, coordinated and operated in many ways or forms. They include government agencies, independentstate-funded institutes, government-coordinated organizations, civil society,military agencies and volunteers.
Government agencies are not profit-oriented and their employees are often motivated differently.[13] Studies of their work have found contrasting results including both higher levels of effort[13] and fewer hours of work.[14] A survey in the UK found that private sector hiring managers do not credit government experience as much as private sector experience.[15] Public workers tend to make less in wages when adjusting for education, although that difference is reduced when benefits and hours are included.[16] Public servants have other intangible benefits such as increased job security and high wages.[16]
A study concluded that public services are associated with higher humanneed satisfaction and lower energy requirements while contemporary forms ofeconomic growth are linked with the opposite. Authors find that the contemporaryeconomic system is structurally misaligned with goals ofsustainable development and that to date no nation can provide decentliving standards at sustainable levels of energy and resource use. They provide analysis about factors in social provisioning and assess that improving beneficial provisioning-factors and infrastructure would allow for sustainable forms of sufficient need satisfaction.[17][18]
Open Public Services, a white paper published by theCameron–Clegg coalition in the United Kingdom in July 2011, aimed to create a comprehensive policy framework for "goodpublic services". It set out the coalition's programme for reform of public services, described as a programme of "wide ambitions" expected to be implemented over a period of time, not all at once.[19] Five principles were to underlie open public services:
The journalistDavid Boyle conducted an independent review for the UK'sTreasury and theCabinet Office on public demand for choice in public services which reported in 2013.[20] The principle of choice where possible was embodied in the Choice Charter, published on 16 May 2013, where four choice principles were outlined:
Between December 2012 and May 2013, "Choice Frameworks" were scheduled for publication covering NHS care,social housing, school education,early years education andadult social care.[21]
Nationalization took off following theWorld wars of the first half of the twentieth century. In parts ofEurope,central planning was implemented in the belief that it would make production more efficient. Many public services, especially electricity, fossil fuels and public transport are products of this era. Following the Second World War, many countries also began to implementuniversal health care and expandededucation under the funding and guidance of the state.
There are several ways to privatize public services. A free-market corporation may be established and sold to private investors, relinquishing government control altogether. Thus it becomes a private (not public) service. Another option, used in theNordic countries, is to establish a corporation, but keep ownership or voting power essentially in the hands of the government. For example, theFinnish state owned 49% ofKemira until 2007, the rest being owned by private investors. A 49% share did not make it a "government enterprise", but it meant that all other investors together would have to oppose the state's opinion in order to overturn the state's decisions in the shareholder's meeting.
A regulated corporation can also acquire permits on the agreement that they fulfill certain public service duties. When a private corporation runs anatural monopoly, then the corporation is typically heavily regulated, to prevent abuse of monopoly power. Lastly, the government can buy the service on the free market. In many countries,medication is provided in this manner: the government reimburses part of the price of the medication. Also, bus traffic, electricity, healthcare and waste management are privatized in this way. One recent innovation, used in the UK increasingly as well as Australia and Canada, is usingpublic-private partnerships, which involve giving a long lease to private consortia in return for partly or fully funding infrastructure costs.
As the more advanced social institutions began to take shape they contributed to some counterbalancing of the essential insecurity of man's condition. It was inevitable that ambitious and assertive men should see an opportunity for establishing for themselves positions of power and influence. No doubt many such occasions had their origins in a genuine concern for the public good [...] The position of [...] the war-band leader as the strong arm of the community's defence would increasingly be confirmed by the subjection of the community to the members of what [...] were becoming, demonstrably, elites, [...] This period, embracing part of the fifth and all of the fourth and third millennia before the present era, is absolutely pivotal to the development of the modern world.
Pharaonic Egypt epitomizes a regulatory, public law regime. [...] The principal function of this elaborate apparatus was to maintain order and security, and, above all, to acquire as much of the surplus agricultural wealth and labor as possible.
To ensure the favor of the gods was the preeminent task of ancient rulers worldwide, for they all were priestly kings. The Roman Caesar was thepontifex maximus of Rome's state god. The Chinese emperor certainly stood over his subjects as 'Son of Heaven,' but if he fell into disfavor with heaven and his country was visited by famine, plague, earthquakes, and floods, he could be overthrown. The Moloch of Carthage demanded children as sacrifices; the Aztecs and Mayas offered their Gods still-quivering hearts. These political religions weredo ut des religions in which the relationship between deity and worshippers was one of contractual exchange.
