Public sector reforms often focus on high impact agencies in order to restore trust in government and in public administration. Using an in-person survey on citizens' attitudes towards public services, we test what public agencies contribute to citizens' general image of government. It is shown that general measures of satisfaction with the functioning of public services contain more than just an evaluation of bureaucratic encounters. Political factors influence this assessment. Specific evaluations of service quality can differ substantially from attitudes towards public services at large. Therefore, low trust in government, a negative attitude towards public administration at large and a positive image of many specific public services may coexist.
The public administration and public services have always taken a marginal place in the political scientists' behavioural research. Public administration students on the other hand tend to focus on political and administrative elites and institutions, and largely ignored citizens in comparative research. In this article we make a plea for international comparative research on citizens' attitudes towards the public administration from an interdisciplinary perspective. Available international survey material is discussed, and main trends in empirical practice and theoretical approaches are outlined, especially those with a potential impact on public sector reform.
Samenvatting. In dit artikel bespreken we het antwoord van een ruime 1500 Vlamingen op de vraag hoe de werking van de overheidsdiensten en administraties kan worden verbeterd. De top tien meest genoemde onderwerpen kunnen in drie hoofdrubrieken kunnen worden ondergebracht: meer efficiëntie, meer transparantie en meer integriteit in de overheid. Summary. In this article we discuss the answer of over 1500 Flemish citizens concerning the question how the functioning of the public authorities and administrations can be improved. The top ten most called subjects can be reduced into three major categories: more efficiency, more transparency and more integrity in the government. Sommaire. En cet article nous discutons la réponse de plus de 1500 citoyens flamands au sujet de la question comment le fonctionnement des services publics et des administrations peut être amélioré. Les dix sujets les plus fréquennement appelés peuvent être réduits dans trois catégories principales: plus d'efficacité, plus de transparent et plus d'intégrité dans le gouvernement.
Permanent grasslands cover 34% of the European Union's agricultural area and are vital for a wide variety of ecosystem services essential for our society. Over recent decades, the permanent grassland area has declined and land use change continues to threaten its extent. Simultaneously, the management intensity of permanent grasslands increased. We performed a systematic literature review on the multifunctionality of permanent grasslands in Europe, examining the effects of land use and management on 19 grassland ecosystem service indicators. Based on the evidence in 696 out of 70,456 screened papers, published since 1980, we found that both land use change and intensification of management decreased multifunctionality. In particular, preventing conversion of permanent grasslands to croplands secured the delivery of multiple ecosystem services. A lower management intensity was associated with benefits for biodiversity, climate regulation and water purification, but impacted the provision of high-quality animal feed. Increasing the number of species in the sward enhanced multifunctionality of permanent grassland without significant trade-offs such as losses in production. Our review covered many aspects of land use, management and ecosystem services, but we also identified areas with no or only few studies. The most prominent gaps were related to comparisons between permanent and temporary grasslands, and effects of management practices on the provision of cultural values, and on erosion and flood control. We suggest that, despite apparent changes in human dietary preferences, the protection of permanent grasslands in Europe must be prioritised. At the same time, considering the need to reduce ruminant livestock's contribution to climate change, the time seems ripe to increase support for low-intensity grassland management to optimise the provision of essential ecosystem services from Europe's permanent grasslands.
