ABSTRACT
This chapter uses selected examples of populism and explores emerging models which may become more commonplace and be regarded as a response to continuing challenges to meet public needs in a context of limited traditional public-sector resources. The concept of ‘public services’ can be defined in several ways. One is simply to consider it from the perspective of the provider as defining the service. Hence, under this ‘public services’ are services provided by the state or by a state agency or by a government department. The traditional concept of public administration would focus not just upon the nature of the service provided but also upon who provides it – the state on behalf of its citizens. Finally, the public sector itself is part of the ‘the broad public sector provision’. In emergency services the encouragement of ‘first responders’ to intervene through, for example, the provision of defibrillators in public settings is such an instance.
