ReConnect: Reconnecting citizens to the administrative state?

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 populist
politics - represents a fundamental challenge to the authority of institutions of the
administrative state and requires inquiry into processes of citizen dis- and reconnection with
the state.
The RECONNECT study investigates how the age of ‘administrative turbulence’, a result of
changes in the political environment, cumulative side-effects of decades of public sector reform
and changing citizen demands, have led to calls for more ‘responsive’ administrative state
institutions. In particular, RECONNECT investigates variation in attitudes and demands by
citizens and politicians towards the administrative state and explores how the administrative
state has sought to become more responsive to citizens and politicians. RECONNECT focuses on
five distinct dimensions of the administrative state covering constitutional, regulatory, enabling,
consumer-protecting and consulting dimensions. These dimensions express different, but
reinforcing elements of citizenship in democratic governance. Using focus groups and polling
data to understand citizen attitudes towards the administrative state and documentary and
interviews research regarding political and administrative actors, RECONNECT generates new
knowledge to compare and explain variation across dimensions of the administrative state and
EU member state jurisdictions. RECONNECT contributes to academic and practitioner
knowledge and debates regarding the future of the administrative state in the current age of
turbulence. In doing so, RECONNECT points to ways how citizens can be reconnected to the
administrative state in particular and wider democratic governance more generally.