We are already familiar with the concept of 'peak oil' and the challanges that are presented  for social, environmental and economic change.   Peak oil claims we have reached the point when we have got the 'easy' oil, where what there is left is more and more difficult and expensive to extract, and it is no longer efficient to go after more as the cost of doing so outweighs the benefits.  

In reflecting on the consequences of the current policies of austerity being pursued in many countries as a response to the economic crisis, blogger Adil Abrar has coined a new concept of 'peak state'. Peak state suggests that the best of the state's provision is now behind us, and we will struggle to manage an increasingly scarce resource.

Generally it is assumed  that state services can continue at a certain level for the foreseeable future, and that once the fallout from the economic crisis is past, things will get back to normal.  But state provision as we have come to know it, may be in terminal decline, and may never be the same again. The 2020 Public Services Trust, in a recent report Public Service Reform in a Cold Climate, suggests maintaining services at present levels is unsustainable, and needs a 'system re-design'.

Public services can be made more efficient, and there is active debate about how this might be achieved.   But just as peak oil does not permit us to drive cars as we used to, so peak state has implications for public service users, and the role, scale and scope of public services.

There is a role for PASCAL here in identifying and addressing the challenges which arise.