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Owing to the seminal work of Michael Lipsky (1980) street-level bureaucracy has developed into an influential research stream within the broader public administration literature. Although street-level bureaucrats, such as teachers, social workers, police officers, or case managers in welfare offices, have only little formal authority within the state apparatus, with their daily actions and decisions they shape the factual outcome of public policies. Operating at the intersection of state and society they apply abstract laws and regulations to the individual cases of citizens. As a result, they have substantial discretion over the delivery of public services determining the extent and quality of the government benefits and sanctions citizens experience.

In the seminar we will elaborate the theoretical foundations of the street-level bureaucracy literature coined by Lipsky and other pioneering scholars. Moreover, the seminar aims to discuss the vast empirical contributions this research stream offers. In doing so, we will focus on insights on the legitimacy of administrative acting, policy implementation, bureaucratic encounters and citizen-state interactions, institutional trust, inequality in public service delivery and social equity, new public management, digitalization as well as public crisis management.

Basic literature:

Brodkin, Evelyn (2012). Reflections on Street level Bureaucracy: Past, Present, and Future. In: Public Administration Review (pp. 940-949).

Gilson, Lucy (2015). Michael Lipsky, 'Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Service'. In S. J. Balla, M. Lodge, & E. C. Page (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Classics in Public Policy and Public Administration (pp. 383-404). Oxford: OUP.

Hupe, Peter (ed.) (2019). Research handbook on Street-Level Bureaucracy. The Gorund Floor of Government in Context. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Lipsky, Michael (1980). Street level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.

The seminar is taught in English. Term papers may be written in English or German, presentations need to be held in English.

Presentation, research paper at the end of the semester, and active participation during the weekly sessions.