Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 1996. / Distributor from envelope. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-400).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Michigan, 1934. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [48-52]).

Research on faith based organisations involvement in public service provision neglects to consider the personal faith convictions of those working in this field. Using a social constructionist epistemology I investigate if and how faith convictions of employees and volunteers working for Christian based service providers impact on the work they do. Data were collected in two stages using semi structured interviews. Stage one obtained a broad overview of the role of Christian service providers from the perspective of elite Christians representing Christian organisations that have a direct connection to welfare provision in the UK. Stage two took an in-depth look at the issues raised in stage one, seeking to understand them from the perspective of ordinary Christians who work for Christian based service providers. Findings from this thesis further sociological understanding of Christian involvement in religiously plural public spheres, and argues that faith is an intrinsic part of the delivery of public services by people working for faith-based organisations. Drawing on the theoretical concept of Individualised Religiosities as proposed by Luckmann, Bellah, Davie, Beck and others, and the concept of Lived Religion as developed by McGuire and Ammerman, this thesis examines participants constructed understanding of the Christian God and its connection with public service provision. It develops a complex, three fold sociological conceptualisation of Christian perceptions of the God figure as: 1) the Supreme Being, 2) as a parental figure, and 3) an embodied God. This broad conceptualisation illustrates how participants combine institutional activities, such as attending church sermons, with more autonomous religious activities, such as personal conversations with God, to construct a multidimensional understanding of the figure. The embodied God position takes on further significance when understanding that participants use public service work as a form of church . Public service can be viewed as a form of private worship, but by embodying God, they also take God to people that may not practice Christianity. These findings challenge assumptions that the practice of religion in public projects has declined in recent years and that faith organisations are reticent to push their faith when providing services. Religious pluralism results in political expectations that faith groups are religiously neutral when delivering public services. Using Framing Theory this thesis demonstrates that participants are framing faith discourses so that they resonate with discourses deemed acceptable in the public realm. It conceptualises these discourses in two action frames, the Love, and Inclusivity Frames. There are indications of a shift towards using profane terms instead of sacred terms to explain and indirectly promote aspects of the Christian faith. Moreover, Christian teachings of love, compassion and belonging are amplified to counter criticisms that Christianity is a threat to liberal rights and beliefs. These frames, which demonstrate the accommodation of Christian discourse to a religiously plural and/or neutral discourse, have implications for how we understand Christian involvement in the public sphere.

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This thesis examines participation in local decision making for public services in the context of changing modes of governance in Britain. The impact of resident participation on local public services through a regeneration partnership is explored through a focus on how participation processes operate in a governance network context. Governance reforms in Britain have provided new opportunities for citizens to participate in public policy decision making. In particular, urban regeneration partnerships such as New Deal for Communities have been designed to promote local resident participation and also to reorient local services to be more closely aligned with resident needs, and thereby to reduce social exclusion. This has presented opportunities for residents to influence local public services; this type of participation outcome has received little attention however. This thesis argues that urban regeneration partnerships can be understood as a type of governance network which create opportunities for resident participation, and that a more detailed understanding of ‘network’ aspects of governing can explain some of the processes and outcomes of resident participation in this context. The research was carried out through an ethnographic case study of a New Deal for Communities programme, in East Manchester. A ‘theory of change’ framework was used to explore participation processes and outcomes in detail. The research found that certain individuals acted as ‘brokers’ through whom processes of influence operated. The more personal aspects of the relationships, or ‘strong ties’, between them were also significant. Resident influence through network governing was largely restricted to the local level however, and was unstable. This thesis makes a contribution to understanding how participation processes operate in an urban regeneration context and how they may lead to changes in public services. The thesis also makes a theoretical contribution by exploring how governance network processes may operate through brokers and network ties.

This dissertation asks the question: How do democracies improve in quality? Building on previous scholarship, the author offers a theoretical framework that traces democratic quality through equality of outcomes. The quality of democracy may be conceptualized as a virtuous cycle where the procedural aspects of democracy motivate politicians to expand equality. This broadening of substantive opportunities outcomes, in turn, deepens democracy by developing individual-level political participation. The theoretical framework is applied to the context of public services with the expectation that quality democracies with high government capacity more broadly distribute basic public services and that this pattern of provision cultivates political participation. The first empirical analysis tests if the quality of democracy and government capacity are associated with reduced service inequalities for a sample of 75 countries. It is found that while equalities of education and sanitation services are significantly related to democratic quality, healthcare is not, nor is government capacity shown to play a significant role. To further explore this, the Mexican states are analyzed for the years 2000 to 2004; the results show that capacity in terms of tax collection efforts is associated with lower inequalities in education services in states with high electoral competition. The second empirical analysis turns to the local level of government - where services are delivered. Using original data from interviews and government records of four Mexican municipalities, the author examines the aspects of democracy and government capacity that are correlated with lower inequalities of public services. The findings highlight that intense electoral competition and institutionalized channels of citizen input as well as capacity in terms of sound collection of municipal taxes and innovations in municipal funding are characteristics of governments with broader distribution of basic public services. The third empirical analysis tests if public services are related to individual-level political participation. Employing survey data from Latin America and Africa, the author finds that “good” public service evaluations are associated with greater likelihoods of voting in high quality democracies - those with intense electoral competition - but limited government capacity. This offers evidence that in a developing context, public services enable political participation.

In municipalities across the globe, traditional forms of governance are being supplemented by collaborative arrangements between governments and their constituencies toward jointly produced public services. Since the late 1970s, this phenomenon known as coproduction has been utilized in efforts to survive severe budget cuts, improve performance, increase accountability, and welcome traditionally silenced voices. However, no study to date has undergone a citywide assessment of coproduction to determine its breadth and depth in a city. Additionally, there is practically no empirical study that examines what citizen characteristics and perceptions are associated with participation in coproduction. The present study represents a first attempt to begin to fill these gaps in the literature. Specifically, this dissertation analyses: (1) How prevalent is coproduction? (2) Who engages in coproduction? and (3)What motivates coproducers? I employ a mixed-method case study of Atlanta, Georgia via its Neighborhood Planning Unit system, using focus groups, citizen questionnaires, census and GIS data, and direct observations. Overall, the coproduction classifications developed in this dissertation enable more systematic research on coproduction. The dissertation findings also contribute to our understanding of (1) how much this service delivery strategy is being utilized in an urban municipality, (2) which forms are most utilized, (3) what triggers participation in each form, and (4) who utilizes coproduction the most – even challenging the longstanding perception that African Americans and low-income groups do not participate in such activities. Lastly, study findings suggest a need to reconceptualize the current theory of coproduction as a public service delivery strategy.

The performance and operation of privatisation in the water sector in developing countries typically diverges from that proposed within the rationalising theoretical framework. There is a broad literature that considers the various aspects of such performance and operation, from the nature of outcomes typically characterised by dispute and renegotiation, to the implications for consumers. It is the purpose of this thesis to analyse the underlying factors that contribute to this typical dispute and renegotiation process, utilising the theoretical rationale for the programme, and its associated weakness and assumptions, as an explanatory framework. Through this analysis it is possible to expose and identify the particular aspects of private sector participation (PSP), the contracts established and administration thereof, which contribute to such problematic implementation. The utilisation of such a framework further permits the identification of likely implications for the functioning of PSP where implemented prospectively. The examination of these connections is performed in a case study environment, with privatisation of water services in Ghana providing the context. The Ghanaian experience shows significant deficiencies in contract design that entail considerable delays and disputes between parties, with contractual deficiencies intensifying the already inevitable role of institutional intervention. Conceptions of water as a merit good and human right, problematic commercial viability, and an incoherent implementation with local contextual variation all further contribute to the contradictory environment of the water sector in Ghana. Theoretical weaknesses, inconsistencies and problematic assumptions are manifest in the sector and contribute to divergence in performance, and where ideological commitment to the programme is evident, this divergence is exaggerated. Theoretical validity for sector policy is therefore questionable, with consequences of increased distortion in risk transfer, significant concessions to the private sector, and the increased role of institutions. This process, it is proposed, threatens the functioning of the programme where implemented, with regulation undermined, inherent and acknowledged renegotiation and dispute, paralleled by a failure to provide sufficient capacity and structure to sector institutions.

This thesis explores the co-production of public services in the case of asylum seekers in Glasgow. It makes contributions on the theoretical and empirical levels. First, it integrates two theoretical standpoints on co-production from the public administration/management and services management literatures. This integration forms the basis for the development of an original conceptual framework which differentiates three modes of co-production at the level of the individual service user: consumer co-production; participative co-production; and enhanced co-production. The thesis then extends co-production to consider organizational modes, considering specifically the role of voluntary and community organizations (VCOs) in the production of services. This discussion contributes to the expansion of the conceptual framework, by introducing the concepts of co-management and co-governance to refer to VCOs co-production in service delivery and in service planning and delivery, respectively. The result is the development of a ‘Typology of Co-production’ which differentiates all five types of co-production according to who co-produces public services and when. These two conceptual frameworks are used to explore the case of asylum seekers and the social welfare services they receive in Glasgow. The case of asylum seekers is particularly interesting given the marginal nature of the group and their legal position as non-citizens. This serves to sharpen the focus on co-production. Three research questions emerged from the theoretical work which are explored in the case of asylum seekers: to what extent is co-production dependent upon citizenship? Can co-production act as a conduit to build social inclusiveness and citizenship? And is individual service user co-production a prerequisite for co-production and partnership working by public service organizations? The study took a mixed methods approach, consisting of policy/practice interviews, a small survey of public service organizations providing services to asylum seekers and an embedded case study design of Glasgow, which involved a series of interviews, observations and document analysis. The empirical context provided a fertile ground to explore and better understand the five types of co-production differentiated in the theory. It further suggests that citizenship is not a prerequisite for each mode of co-production and also that the co-production of public services can positively impact the lives of asylum seekers, particularly around issues of integration.