Problems In Privatization Theory And Practice In State And Local Governments

Becker (policy and management, Florida International University) begins with an overview of the problems to be discussed, including propriety, legitimacy, political feasibility, administration challenges, and negative impacts associated with privatization. He goes on to discuss these issues in detail, with particular attention to the expanding scope of privatization, the types of organizations suited to perform the work of government, the dynamics of public- private partnerships, and recommendations for correcting the negative effects suffered by the providers and recipients of privatized services. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

From 1997 to 2001, more than 4,000 privatization operations have been carried out in more than 100 countries, bringing in government revenues of over 1,362 billion dollars. The phenomenon, which grew exponentially at the end of the 1990s and then abruptly slowed down, had dramatic consequences on the performance of state-owned enterprises and a significant impact on industrialized countries, as well as emerging and less developed economies. Yet there have been surprisingly fewattempts to provide a systematic empirical account of the privatization process at the worldwide level.Why do governments privatize? Why do some countries accomplish large-scale privatization programmes, and others never privatize at all? Is privatization a trend or a cycle? Furthermore, how do governments privatize? Do governments really transfer ownership and control of state-owned enterprises or does private ownership tend to coexist with public control?This book provides some answers to these important questions trying to test research hypotheses set forth by the recent economic theory of privatization.Comprehensive cross-country empirical analyses carried out over a period of more than twenty years are used in the book to show that privatization has taken place all over the world, sometimes spontaneously, more often under the pressure of economic and budgetary constraints. Several of the goals of the privatization have been met, but despite proclamations and programmes, only a small minority of countries has carried out a genuine privatization process, completely transferring ownership ofstate-owned enterprises to the private sector. A lack of political will is to some extent at the root of this reluctance. However this reluctance can be traced back partly to structural factors that would make an orderly privatization difficult, such as the absence of developed capital markets,appropriate regulation, and suitable institutions.

This book offers an expert examination of the ideology and motives behind the privatization or the nationalization of an industry, based on real case studies. Is it always more effective and less expensive to use taxpayer dollars to engage private companies rather than have the government run enterprises itself? Do consumers always benefit from the privatization of services? What happens when privatization stops being an abstract, theoretical debate and is actually put to the test in the real world? Privatize This? Assessing the Opportunities and Costs of Privatization is the place to find out. Privatize This? provides a clear, easy-to-apply model for evaluating the pros and cons of the privatization process and then puts the model to work in examining nine real-world case studies—ranging from Spain's privatization of its cigarette industry to Pennsylvania's "state store system" for selling liquor. Throughout, the book focuses on the central issues of privatization—profit versus public good, protection from fraud and waste—while also showing how the recent economic upheaval has changed public opinion and public policy on privatization.

Today’s public managers not only have to function as leaders within their agencies, they must also establish and coordinate multi-organizational networks of other public agencies, private contractors, and the public. This important transformation has been the subject of an explosion of research in recent years. The Collaborative Public Manager brings together original contributions by some of today’s top public management and public policy scholars who address cutting-edge issues that affect government managers worldwide. State-of-the-art empirical research reveals why and how public managers collaborate and how they motivate others to do the same. Examining tough issues such as organizational design and performance, resource sharing, and contracting, the contributors draw lessons from real-life situations as they provide tools to meet the challenges of managing conflict within interorganizational, interpersonal networks. This book pushes scholars, students, and professionals to rethink what they know about collaborative public management—and to strive harder to achieve its full potential.

The world of public management is changing dramatically, fueled by technological innovations such as the Internet, globalism that permits us to outsource functions anywhere in the world, new ideas from network theory, and more. Public managers no longer are unitary leaders of unitary organizations - instead, they often find themselves convening, negotiating, mediating, and collaborating across borders."Big Ideas in Collaborative Public Management" brings together a rich variety of big picture perspectives on collaborative public management. The chapters are all original and written by distinguished experts. Designed for practical application, they range from examinations of under what conditions collaborative public management occurs to what it means to be a collaborative leader.The contributors address tough issues such as legitimacy building in networks, and discuss ways to engage citizens in collaboration. They examine the design of collaborative networks and the outcomes of collaboration. Detailed introductory and concluding chapters by the editors summarize and critique the chapters, and frame them as a reflection of the state of collaborative public management today.

The collection of papers brings out the complexities in PPP in terms of types, conceptualization, structure, institutions, and financing. It covers a broad sweep ranging from infrastructure to services and utilities; and from global to Indian states. The methodology is primarily empirical but the thrust is on conceptualization of PPP in its various forms and frameworks. PPP is still a practitioner’s field but is growing in size and significance; and as a solution to failures of public system and the consequent privatization. It is a major attraction to policy makers and funding agencies given its middle-of-the-road approach. It is likely to gain currency, but it is important that we get deeper understandings of this form before we place more faith in this. The papers in this book, selected from a conference on PPP held at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in 2008, raise several important conceptual issues and seek to address some of them.

Challenges to Local Government offers a timely discussion of how local governments have implemented public policies during the last decade. Concentrating on Britain and the United States (but with essays on Scandinavia, France and Canada) the authors document, explain and analyze the implications of these policies for local autonomy, focusing especially upon local economic initiatives.