Public Encounters as Venues for Citizen Empowerment
The ‘In‐Between’ in the Belgian Probation Sector
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7515448 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony Ricotta (0009-0001-5717-9035) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 240-253 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Policy and Administration (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0144-5596 • E-ISSN: 1467-9515 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/spol.70005 |
| OpenAlex | W4414104502 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 32 |
Public encounters between street‐level bureaucrats and citizens are increasingly seen as collaborative. Yet, the nature and extent of citizens' participation remain unclear, especially in coercive settings involving marginalised populations, where interactions are mandatory and control‐driven. While research on administrative burdens and resources offers insights, it does not break into the black box of citizen–state interactions. We examine citizens' participation in probation, a highly asymmetrical context, through a relational approach focused on what happens ‘in‐between’ actors and the network of relationships in which encounters are embedded. Drawing on 71 observed encounters, supplemented by interviews, we show that probationers actively participate in the implementation process despite the coercive setting. We propose a heuristic classification of public encounters—officer‐led, probationer‐led, oppositional, and reciprocal—that disentangles relational and power dynamics and emphasises how citizens participate in probation. Ultimately, our analysis reveals the role of probationers' relationships with the judiciary and with probation officers in (re)shaping the experience of probation and how they engage in encounters
Black box · Heuristic · Power (physics · Process (computing · Public sector · Work (physics · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Urban Planning and Governance
The Problem-Centred Interview
The Common Place of Law
Relational public administration
Cops, Teachers, Counselors
Arresting Citizenship
Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis
Accomplishing the Public Encounter
Perceived burdens of interacting with public authorities
What is social about criminal justice social work in Belgium
Coping During Public Service Delivery
Administrative Burden in Citizen–State Interactions
Resistance or Capitulation? How Discrete Emotions Shape Citizens’ Interactions With the Administrative State
A signaling perspective on bureaucratic encounters
How-to Bureaucracy
The Political Economy of Administrative Burdens
Public Encounters
Frontline employees' responses to citizens' communication of administrative burdens
Administrative Capital and Citizens’ Responses to Administrative Burden
Street-level bureaucracy and Co-creation
Mitigating Psychological Costs—The Role of Citizens’ Administrative Literacy and Social Capital
Policy Feedback and the Politics of Administration
It takes (at least) two to tango
Human Capital and Administrative Burden
The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship
Administrative Burden
Children of a Lesser God
The Potential of Meta-ethnography in the Study of Public Administration
Taking the bite out of administrative burdens
Examining the “in-between” of public encounters
Police Are Our Government
Organizations and Clients
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |