Over the last years, engagement with politics in Scotland has increased significantly through involvement in the campaigns or party membership following the post-referendum period and the Leaders Debate in 2015. Recent general elections in the UK have shown that Scotland “voted for change” as they have become the third largest party in the House of Commons. Nevertheless, the cuts in public spending still remain as the major challenges for the Scottish Government. In the aftermath of the Christie Commission, there has been an increasing interest in the concept of coproduction in Scotland to overcome some of those challenges in public services. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it explores how coproduction has become embedded in the Scottish context. Secondly, it uses Aberdeen as a case study and investigates how Aberdeen City Council has adopted this concept in its approach. The paper argues that coproduction needs a more critical perspective in managerial approaches to public services so that it can be a matter of democracy rather than administration.
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