Legal Vacuums and Administrative Bottlenecks in the Co-production of Public Services: A Case Study of Civil Society Rescue Networks

Abstract

This academic analysis unpacks the complex interstices and brittle institutional bonds between state and civil society emergency networks. Seen through the multidisciplinary prisms of theories of Co-production Network Governance in Crisis Management and Administrative Law, the analysis uncovers that despite the collaborative fabric rhetoric, this collaboration is still riven with structural tirades of (notably) administrative antagonism and acute resource deprivation. But the deepest and most dangerous fracture lies in the legal vacuum facing those at the frontline. These volunteers risk their lives and go head-to-head with danger in the role of de facto officials, pursuing public obligations in the name of the state and yet they receive institutional abandonment when unpreventable accidents or tragedies occur. Regularly, the state removes from them the safeguards of the 1996 Act on Liability for Wrongful Acts of Officials. A paradigm in which the state is happy to reap the fruit of citizens labor and sacrifice without ever offering to “share in the risk” leaving just alone, legally endangered individuals to confront mighty adversaries  feels like a grotesque injustice and a betrayal of the very soul of public law. In order to redress the equity and complexity issues in play, this article argues for a radical transformation of state policy and legal framework and it urges the government to finally treat these volunteers not just as their subordinates, but as bona-fide partners. Such a change requires closing legal loopholes that will provide a protective canopy over heroes on the front lines, reshaping rigid command structures to jibe with networked fluidity and reforming financial structures to keep resources flowing in the lifeblood. They also are more than just a matter of policy these are the prerequisites for fostering a disaster relief environment of lasting compassion, mutual aid and sustainable equity.