Developing a spectrum of positive to negative citizen engagement

In democratic societies the fundamental aim of public sector services is to serve citizens, rendering citizen engagement essential. Despite this, citizen disengagement is widespread in public administration, and as such, remains a key challenge within contemporary governance. A cursory glance of satisfaction statistics illustrates the extent of discontent with public sector performance. A recent study in the UK reported that only 20 per cent of citizens were satisfi ed with their Local Government’s service provision (Mitchem, 2014), and a mere 25 per cent felt that their Local Government understood their needs. Over 30 per cent of citizens in America and Canada are also dissatisfi ed with their Local Government (Dorazio, 2014). This level of citizen disaffection is also mirrored in Australia where satisfaction with the performance of Local Government within specifi c service categories hovers around 20 per cent (e.g. road and transport infrastructure and town planning; Evans and Reid, 2013). Importantly, these citizens report feeling disgruntled, frustrated and in some cases alienated from their Local Government.