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Abstract
This article addresses the evolution of the idea of the involving public sector, and traces its relationship to earlier discourses of participation and choice. It asks whether we should consider the developing discourse of involvement as something that offers a progressive move towards citizen empowerment and social justice, or whether instead it marks a neo-liberal turn towards a smaller state and greater citizen responsibility. In responding to this question the article argues that the political and public implications of the involving public sector depend crucially on three key factors: first, the organizational engagement with ‘innovation’; second, the ways in which ideas and norms of involvement are translated by particular professionals and organizations; and third, the ways in which they become inscribed in particular political projects in different nation states, regions and localities.