Contents: Preface xv Acknowledgements xvi INTRODUCTION 1 The public encounter as object of scholarly inquiry 2 Peter Hupe 2 The politics of the public encounter 19 Peter Hupe PART I WHAT HAPPENS WHERE STATE AND CITIZEN MEET 3 The politics of street-level bureaucracy 40 B. Guy Peters 4 The public encounter and the role of citizens 57 Carola van Eijk and Trui Steen 5 Discretion and accountability: Notes on perspective and avoidance 78 Keith Hawkins PART II THE DYNAMICS OF PUBLIC ENCOUNTERS 6 Nobody’s agent: Discretion as individualistic accountability 107 Nadine Raaphorst, Peter Hupe and Maaike Breedveld 7 Behind public encounters: Uncertainty absorption in asylum decisions 126 Tone Liodden 8 Professional routines in and around public encounters 149 Mirko Noordegraaf and Marlot Kuiper 9 Tensions within the public encounter: Balancing individual and population health risks 170 Matthew McKenna and Nicola Gale 10 Public encounters and the role of citizens’ impression management 189 Lieke Oldenhof and Eline Linthorst PART III PUBLIC ENCOUNTERS IN CONTEXT 11 Going viral: Public encounters and digitalization 211 Peter Hupe 12 The public encounter as object of delegation 235 Federica Infantino 13 Reform and the inspection encounter: How micro-practices compromise meso-policies 251 Peter Mascini and Karin van Wingerde 14 Inspection encounters during a crisis: Suppositions from the Covid-19 pandemic 270 Kim Loyens and Carina Schott 15 Public encounters and public achievements 289 Peter Hupe PART IV ETHICS AND THE PUBLIC ENCOUNTER 16 Modern citizenship as civil disobedience 3.0 316 Gijs van Oenen 17 The public encounter and the ethics of public office 333 Kirstine Zinck Pedersen CONCLUSION 18 The state of the citizen 354 Peter Hupe Author index 365 Subject index 370