The New Public Service (NPS) model emerged as a critique of both the traditional public administration (TPA) and the New Public Management (NNPM) paradigms. While TPA focused on bureaucratic efficiency and NPM on market-driven efficiency and customer satisfaction, NPS shifts the focus towards democratic governance, active citizenship, and public interest. At its core, NPS posits that public officials are not merely implementers of policy (TPA) or managers serving customers (NPM), but rather facilitators and mediators who help citizens articulate and achieve their shared interests.

Key tenets of the NPS model include:

1. Serving Citizens, Not Customers: Unlike NPM's 'customer' orientation, NPS views individuals as 'citizens' with rights and responsibilities, emphasizing their role in co-producing public value rather than just consuming services.
2. Seeking the Public Interest: NPS prioritizes the collective public interest, which is seen as a result of dialogue and deliberation among citizens, rather than a sum of individual preferences or market forces.
3. Citizenship and Governance: The model places active and involved citizenship at the heart of governance. It recognizes that citizens are not passive recipients but active participants in shaping public policy and service delivery. This involves empowering citizens, fostering civic engagement, and creating platforms for their voices to be heard.
4. Facilitative Role of Public Officials: Public officials under NPS are expected to move beyond traditional roles of command and control or entrepreneurial management. Their primary function becomes facilitating dialogue, building consensus, mediating conflicts, and empowering communities. They act as stewards of the public interest, helping to build collaborative relationships between government and citizens.
5. Collaboration and Networks: NPS emphasizes the importance of collaboration across sectors (government, non-profits, private sector) and with citizens. It promotes network governance where solutions to complex public problems are co-created through partnerships.
6. Accountability Beyond Efficiency: While efficiency remains important, NPS broadens the concept of accountability to include responsiveness to citizens, ethical conduct, and democratic values.

In essence, NPS advocates for a more democratic and participatory approach to governance, where public officials are catalysts for citizen engagement, ensuring that public services and policies are truly reflective of and responsive to the needs and aspirations of an active citizenry. It seeks to restore trust in government by making it more transparent, inclusive, and accountable to the people it serves.