2 2.1 Trust and proper conduct The citizen and the government system Trust between government and citizen (and businesses and institutions) is an important factor in the day-to-day work of the National Ombudsman. Citizens complaining to the Ombudsman often say that they are doing so because they feel let down by the authorities and have lost their trust in government. The purpose of the National Ombudsman’s interventions and, where appropriate, mediation is frequently to restore an individual citizen’s trust in government in a particular situation. Many of his investigations concern everyday situations in which trust can be eroded: enforcement, participation and dealings with government bodies. The key question in the National Ombudsman’s mind is invariably ‘What can government and citizens reasonably expect from each other?’ The National Ombudsman realises that aligning expectations is no easy matter. Seen from his vantage point, there appears to be a built-in tension between government as a system or set of sub-systems and people’s personal experience of it. To many government services the citizen is now just a number, but citizens are obliged to submit to legal and policy frameworks established by government in ever more aspects of their lives. Even in fields where service delivery has been largely privatized, such as education and healthcare, government control is substantial, if not overwhelming. Increasingly legislators and policymakers expect citizens to have the capacity to comprehend complex statutory rules and regulations that are hard even for experts to understand. And the penalty for failure to comply with them is increasingly paid by the individual citizen. In other words, the government system is a more and more decisive factor in the day-to-day lives of individual citizens, while at the same time it is becoming ever more complex. Citizens are also changing; individualisation is making them more self-confident and therefore less unquestioningly compliant. They are reasonably inclined to trust what they are told by experts and by government, but see that information as a starting point for further investigations of their own. Many of them adopt a critical stance, asking questions and demanding a certain standard of behaviour on the part of the authorities. In short, government is an increasing presence in the everyday lives of individual citizens, but citizens are taking a more critical attitude stance towards the government. The result is an increasing tension between individual citizens and the government system and this is eroding the relationship of trust between the two. Trust and proper conduct | 5 Pagina 4
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