Active Citizenship and Effective Public Services and Programmes: How Can We Know What Really Works?

This paper is a review of the aims and practice of active citizenship in England. It sets out the key concepts and gives an account of the developing policy agenda in crime, regeneration and housing, education, health and local government. It reviews the current state of scientific knowledge in this area, in particular summarising research commissioned by the Home Office Civil Renewal Research Programme, 2004-05. Whilst the research findings show the positive contribution of government initiatives in this area, a key theme that emerges is that the policy context and the causal relationships are often more complex than advocates sometimes claim.