ReConnect: Reconnecting citizens to the administrative state?

行政国家是民主治理的核心——它将公民与国家联系起来。当前的政治动荡时代——通过公民不满和民粹主义政治表现出来——代表了对行政国家机构权威的根本性挑战，需要对公民与国家分离和重新联系的过程进行调查。RECONNECT研究调查了政治环境变化、数十年公共部门改革的累积副作用以及不断变化的公民需求所导致的“行政动荡”时代是如何导致人们呼吁建立更“反应迅速”的行政国家机构的。特别地，RECONNECT调查了公民和政治家对行政国家的态度和要求的变化，并探讨了行政国家如何寻求对公民和政治家做出更积极的回应。RECONNECT侧重于行政国家的五个不同维度，包括宪法，监管，授权，消费者保护和咨询维度。这些维度表达了民主治理中不同但又加强的公民要素。通过使用焦点小组和民意调查数据来了解公民对行政国家的态度，以及关于政治和行政行为者的文献和访谈研究，RECONNECT产生了新的知识，以比较和解释行政国家和欧盟成员国司法管辖区各维度的差异。RECONNECT有助于学术和实践知识和辩论关于未来的行政国家在当前动荡的时代。在此过程中，RECONNECT指出了公民如何重新与行政国家联系起来，以及更广泛的民主治理。

The administrative state is central to democratic governance - it connects citizens to the state.The current age of political turbulence - expressed through citizen dissatisfaction and populistpolitics - represents a fundamental challenge to the authority of institutions of theadministrative state and requires inquiry into processes of citizen dis- and reconnection withthe state.The RECONNECT study investigates how the age of ‘administrative turbulence’, a result ofchanges in the political environment, cumulative side-effects of decades of public sector reformand changing citizen demands, have led to calls for more ‘responsive’ administrative stateinstitutions. In particular, RECONNECT investigates variation in attitudes and demands bycitizens and politicians towards the administrative state and explores how the administrativestate has sought to become more responsive to citizens and politicians. RECONNECT focuses onfive distinct dimensions of the administrative state covering constitutional, regulatory, enabling,consumer-protecting and consulting dimensions. These dimensions express different, butreinforcing elements of citizenship in democratic governance. Using focus groups and pollingdata to understand citizen attitudes towards the administrative state and documentary andinterviews research regarding political and administrative actors, RECONNECT generates newknowledge to compare and explain variation across dimensions of the administrative state andEU member state jurisdictions. RECONNECT contributes to academic and practitionerknowledge and debates regarding the future of the administrative state in the current age ofturbulence. In doing so, RECONNECT points to ways how citizens can be reconnected to theadministrative state in particular and wider democratic governance more generally.