Citizenship, the market and democracy

The recent waves of privatisation and liberalisation have affected not only forms of economic regulation but also the very nature of citizenship and democracy. It is one thing to privatise a bank or airline; while it is quite another for government to withdraw from directly delivering public welfare services or from the major public utilities. This article analyses the way in which the latest phase of liberalisation and privatisation has transformed the very nature of that citizenship which, in the vision of T. H. Marshall, made it possible to construct a genuine industrial citizenship. To this end we develop the thinking and research which led some to speak of the advent of ‘post-democracy’. The argument that the opportunities granted by ‘exit’ (typical of market choice) are overestimated proves to be the crucial one, especially where the quality of social services are concerned. We therefore revisit Hirschman's well-known ‘exit/voice’ model before, in the concluding section, making a few proposals as to how a fresh approach could be taken to the problem of choosing between forms of regulation, in which a significant role could be played by ‘encompassing’ organisations such as major trade union confederations.