Editing Public service (section)

==History==
Governing bodies have long provided core public services. The tradition of keeping citizens secure through organized military defense dates to at least four thousand years ago.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J53rAgAAQBAJ |title=The Power of the Bull |publisher=Routledge |location=London |last1=Rice |first1=Michael |page=13 |date=1998 |isbn=978-1-317-72583-1 |quote=As the more advanced social institutions began to take shape they contributed to some counterbalancing of the essential insecurity of man's condition. It was inevitable that ambitious and assertive men should see an opportunity for establishing for themselves positions of power and influence. No doubt many such occasions had their origins in a genuine concern for the public good [...] The position of [...] the war-band leader as the strong arm of the community's defence would increasingly be confirmed by the subjection of the community to the members of what [...] were becoming, demonstrably, elites, [...] This period, embracing part of the fifth and all of the fourth and third millennia before the present era, is absolutely pivotal to the development of the modern world.}}</ref>

Maintaining order through local delegated authority originated at least as early as the [[Warring States period]] (5th to 3rd centuries BCE) in ancient China with the institution of {{Lang|zh-Latn-pinyin|xiàn}} (prefectures) under the control of a centrally appointed prefect. Historical evidence of state provision of [[dispute resolution]] through a legal/justice system goes back at least as far as ancient Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j3pmDAAAQBAJ |title=Law's Political Foundations: Rivers, Rifles, Rice, and Religion |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |location=Cheltemham, Gloucestershire |last1=Haley |first1=John O. |pages=43–44 |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-78536-850-9 |quote=Pharaonic Egypt epitomizes a regulatory, public law regime. [...] The principal function of this elaborate apparatus was to maintain order and security, and, above all, to acquire as much of the surplus agricultural wealth and labor as possible.}}</ref>

A primary public service in ancient history involved ensuring the general favor of the [[Deity|gods]] through a theologically and ceremonially correct [[state religion]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcvZCgAAQBAJ |title=The Cambridge Companion to Political Theology |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |last1=Hovey |first1=Craig |last2=Phillips |first2=Elizabeth |page=4–5 |date=2015 |isbn=978-1-107-05274-1 |quote=To ensure the favor of the gods was the preeminent task of ancient rulers worldwide, for they all were priestly kings. The Roman Caesar was the ''pontifex maximus'' of Rome's state god. The Chinese emperor certainly stood over his subjects as 'Son of Heaven,' but if he fell into disfavor with heaven and his country was visited by famine, plague, earthquakes, and floods, he could be overthrown. The Moloch of Carthage demanded children as sacrifices; the Aztecs and Mayas offered their Gods still-quivering hearts. These political religions were ''do ut des'' religions in which the relationship between deity and worshippers was one of contractual exchange.}}</ref>

The widespread provision of [[public utility|public utilities]] as public services in developed countries usually began in the late nineteenth century, often with the [[Municipality|municipal]] development of [[Coal gas|gas]] and [[water]] services. Later, governments began to provide other services such as [[electricity]] and [[health care]]. In most developed countries, local or national governments continue to provide such services, the biggest exceptions being the [[United States|U.S.]] and the [[United Kingdom|UK]], where private provision is arguably proportionally more significant.<ref>{{Cite web|last=by|date=2019-10-29|title=Concept Of Public Service (1)|url=https://andhrapradesh.pscnotes.com/ethics-booster/concept-of-public-service-1/|access-date=2020-09-24|website=Andhra Pradesh PCS Exam Notes|language=en-US}}</ref> Nonetheless, such privately provided public services are often strongly regulated, for example (in the US) by [[Public utilities commission|Public Utility Commission]]s.

Examples noted in a history of public services in [[Oxford]] include street-repair, cleansing, and [[streetlighting|lighting]], drainage and sewage disposal, water, gas and electricity supply, police and fire services, the Post Office, transport, hospital services, and the provision of [[public bathing|baths]], parks and [[cemetery|cemeteries]].<ref>Eleanor Chance, Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, C J Day, T G Hassall, Mary Jessup and Nesta Selwyn, [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol4/pp350-364 'Public Services'], in ''A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 4, the City of Oxford'', ed. Alan Crossley and C R Elrington (London, 1979), pp. 350-364, accessed 5 May 2022</ref>