ABSTRACT
It appears that not only the state, as an organizing entity, but the public domain – the non-tradable social goods sector that exists in every society – is ready to make a come-back (Albert 1993). The current crisis of neo-liberalism has put on the agenda the need to move beyond the Washington consensus and its belief in the frictionless operation of markets. What needs specification and development is the modern notion of the public as an instrument of governance. Even if governments in the past have been reluctant to share decision-making with the public, at the present time government needs to find ways to empower citizens in order to improve public services, reduce public bads and introduce new regulatory instruments to act as a counterweight to global instability.
