How do we provide effective public services in a deeply neoliberal world? In the wake of the widespread failure of privatisation efforts, societies in the global south are increasingly seeking progressive ways of recreating the public sector. With contributors ranging from cutting-edge scholars to activists working in health, water, and energy provision, and with case studies covering a broad spectrum of localities and actors, Making Public in a Privatized World uncovers the radically different ways in which public services are being reshaped from the grassroots up. From communities holding the state accountable for public health in rural Guatemala, to waste pickers in India and decentralized solar electricity initiatives in Africa, the essays in this collection offer probing insights into the complex ways in which people are building genuine alternatives to privatization, while also illustrating the challenges which communities face in creating public services which are not subordinated to the logic of the market, or to the monolithic state entities of the past.

Contemporary privatization remakes nature-society as property and transforms people's relationships to themselves, each other, and the natural world. This groundbreaking collection provides the first systematic analysis of neo-liberal privatization. Rich case studies of privatization in the making reveal both the pivotal role that privatization plays in neoliberalism and new opportunities for challenging neo-liberal hegemony. Rich case studies linked to broader questions on neoliberalism Illustrates the importance of property relation and the complexities existing in the meaning and practice of property Extends current geographical scholarship on neoliberalism -including neoliberalism and nature Each essay touches on the disciplinary, regulatory dimensions of privatization Highlights the importance of privatization, both broadly and specifically

In Privatization in the City, E .S. Savas comprehensively examines the evolution and implementation of former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's aggressive privatization program in the face of a city council generally hostile to privatization. Savas identifies, examines, evaluates, and documents all forms of privatization employed, including contracting, competitive sourcing, divestment, leases, vouchers, franchises, default, withdrawal, and voluntarism. He contrasts these efforts in New York with privatization in several other cities across the country, ranging from Indianapolis to Phoenix. After analyzing the costs and benefits-both quantitative and qualitative-of New York's privatization program, Savas concludes that significant savings were achieved during Giuliani's eight years in office.

Beginning in 1983, the Mexican government implemented one of the most extensive programs of market-oriented reform in the developing world. Downsizing the State examines a key element of this reform program: the privatization of public firms.

Drawing upon interviews with government officials, business executives, and labor leaders as well as data from government archives and corporate documents, MacLeod highlights the difficulties of linking market reforms to improved public welfare. Privatization failed to live up to its promise of raising living standards or decentralizing the economy. Indeed, privatization actually increased the concentration of wealth in Mexico while redirecting the economy toward foreign markets. These findings contribute to theoretical debates regarding state autonomy and the embeddedness of economic action.

MacLeod calls into question the autonomy of the Mexican state in its privatization program. He shows that the creation of markets where public firms once dominated has involved both the destruction of social relations and the construction of new relations and institutions to regulate the market.

This book challenges readers to consider the consequences of commercialism and business influences on and in schools. Critical essays examine the central theme of commercialism via a unique multiplicity of real-world examples. Topics include: *privatization of school food services; *oil company ads that act as educational policy statements; *a parent's view of his child's experiences in a school that encourages school-business partnerships; *commercialization and school administration; *teacher union involvement in the school-business partnership craze currently sweeping the nation; *links between education policy and the military-industrial complex; *commercialism in higher education, including marketing to high school students, intellectual property rights of professors and students, and the bind in which professional proprietary schools find themselves; and *the influence of conservative think tanks on information citizens receive, especially concerning educational issues and policy. Schools or Markets?: Commercialism, Privatization, and School-Business Partnerships is compelling reading for all researchers, faculty, students, and education professionals interested in the connections between public schools and private interests. The breadth and variety of topics addressed make it a uniquely relevant text for courses in social and cultural foundations of education, sociology of education, educational politics and policy, economics of education, philosophy of education, introduction to education, and cultural studies in education.

Privatization has caused a large reconfiguration of the relations between the state, the market, and the family in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, all of which has had a profound effect on the lives of women. This collection of essays address this timely issue by examining eight case studies on the role of law in various arenas such as fiscal and labour market policy, family and immigration law, and laws designed to regulate health services and to prohibit child prostitution.

Starting from the shared assumption that privatization signals a transition from welfare state to neo-liberal state, the authors illustrate the role of law in this process, and its impact on women and on the gender order. In doing so, the contributors lay bare the complex interplay between a globalized political economy, social reproduction and legal regulation, providing an important contribution to feminist political theory and legal theory. Of great relevance to political science and law practitioners scholars and students - especially those interested in the areas of public policy and the state - these essays contribute strongly to debates about gender and will attract a wide feminist audience.

Providing therapists practical solutions to managed care's erosion of their freedom to practice, this book presents a working blueprint for a private-pay psychotherapy practice. Dana C. Ackley casts out the distortions that have crept into many clinicians' thinking as a result of reliance on third-party reimbursement. Based on his own experience, he shows how you can serve clients--and yourself--better by developing real alternatives to the pressures and bureaucracy of managed care. In clear step-by-step detail, including practical exercises and checklists, sample marketing materials, and payment plans, the volume shows you how to: *Rediscover the economic and clinical value of your work *Discard assumptions that might block your progress *Educate yourself about the needs of potential clients *Market and sell your services effectively *Learn ethical, reasonable business-of-practice skills *Diversify into the rewarding area of psychological consultation to businesses. No matter what your clinical style, theoretical orientation, or practice history, you will benefit from the hard-won lessons Dr. Ackley shares in this book.

From one of its leading international proponents comes this comprehensive, coherent guide to privatization -- its background, theory, and practical reality. In this new book, E.S. Savas explains --using a straightforward, all-inclusive approach --what, why, when, and how to privatize. Contracting services, using franchises and vouchers, divesting government-owned businesses, privatizing infrastructure through public-private partnerships, reforming education, privatizing the welfare state, and overcoming opposition to privatization are just some of the many aspects discussed in detail.

This book makes public, for the first time, a full account of the development of the privatization of prisons, centred on the only full-scale empirical study yet to have been undertaken in Britain. After providing an up-to-date overview of the development of private sector involvement in penal practice in the United Kingdom, North America, Europe and Australia, the authors go on to describe the first two years in the life of Wolds Remand Prison - the first private prison in Britain. They look at the daily life for remand prisoners, assess the duties and morale of staff and compare the workings of Wolds to a new local prison in the public sector. The authors conclude by discussing some of the practical and theoretical issues to have emerged from contracting out, ethical issues surrounding the whole privatization debate and implications for the future of the prison system and penal policy.

What government activities should be contracted out to private companies? This thoughtful book by a Harvard policy analyst shuns global answers and explores how to examine individual cases.

Driven by ideology, the IMF, the World Bank and powerful business interests, governments all over the world have been privatizing services in a growing number of sectors. Not just industrial utilities like energy, water and transport, but health, education, media, communications, pensions, even prisons and defence. But what have been the results? Have private funds and management produced greater efficiency, better economic performance and higher levels of service everywhere? This book is the first thorough audit of privatizations around the world. It shows how and where they have worked well, and where they have defeated their own aims - with serious impacts on public health, environmental sustainability, democratic accountability and the level of public service. It analyses the factors behind success or failure to establish criteria for future sell-offs, and argues for the fundamental importance of democratic governance of the privatization of publicly owned goods. The result is a book of major importance, challenging one of the orthodoxies of our day - a benchmark for future debate.

The past decade has witnessed a worldwide and more or less irreversible shift away from state ownership. This "megatrend" is expected to last well into the next millennium. Given policymakers' previous strong inclination toward nationalization and state ownership, one must ask: Why change now? Markets, States, and Public Policy concentrates on the experience of Britain and France, two pioneers of privatization, and draws specifically on detailed case studies of three sectors: oil, telecommunications, and railroads. The book shows that privatization is brought about by the interplay of three factors at critical junctures of time: available policy alternatives, the ideological complexion and strategy of the governing parties, and widening government budget deficits. Thus, privatization is a politically forged decision to forego direct control over markets in favor of indirect control. Zahariadis applies the multiple streams approach, extending the theory in two important ways: first, by giving it an explicitly comparative focus and, second, by broadening its explanatory reach to cover policy adoption in addition to agenda setting. In doing this, the author strikes a unique balance between theoretical analysis and empirical rigor. Zahariadis's novel way of comparatively examining the dynamics of policy choice and his use of literature that cuts across the fields of comparative politics, public policy, and political economy will attract the interest of students of political science, public administration, economics, and sociology.

Computerization has generated dra-matic advances In telecommunica-tions, such as mobile telephones and video conferencing. Coupled with this are major changes in regulation, as telephone companies face new compet-itors. States are experimenting with new forms of utility regulation and de-regulation in order to cope with the demands of rising competition. Here Mueller examines in detail the results of a radical telephone regulation law.

In 1986, the state of Nebraska com-pletely discarded traditional utility reg-ulation, deregulating rates and profits of its local telephone companies. The Nebraska experiment has become a benchmark for reassessing the role of state regulation In the future of tele-communications. Using comparative data from five midwestern states, Mueller shows how deregulation af-fected rates, investment, infrastruc-ture modernization, and profits. He uncovers both positive and negative results. Mueller found established telephone companies to be basically conservative, not aggressive and ex-pansionist, and concludes that new competition, not regulation or deregu-lation, is transforming the telecommu-nications industry.

This book is the first systematic em-pirical study of the controversial Ne-braska law and its broader effects. It will be a significant addition to the much debated issue of telecommuni-cations deregulation. Economists, pol-icymakers, and telecommunications managers will find in this volume a substantial resource. According to Robert Atkinson, senior vice president of Teleport Communications Group: "Nebraska's experiences with telecom-munications deregulation--the good, the bad and the ugly--need to be un-derstood by all telecommunications policymakers across the country so that they can emulate Nebraska's suc-cesses and avoid its mistakes. Mueller provides the roadmap."

This book examines one of the most high-profile municipal privatizations the privatization of New York City 's Central Park. The fiscal crisis of the 1970s established the political and cultural opening for privatizations, which were justified on the basis of increasing efficiency. However, as Cooke demonstrates, these justifications were deliberately blind to the social and economic implication of privatization. This fascinating account moves beyond the hackneyed pro- versus anti-privatization debate by reconceptualizing the park 's privatization as an ensemble of contradictory class effects. It also highlights the immense theoretical and policy space for radically reconsidering and rethinking privatization processes in both the municipal and global contexts.

Privatisation is supposed to bring about the retreat of the state. But what happens when the state privatises itself and even its core functions - tax collection, internal security, customs - are auctioned to the highest bidder? Does this imply a weakening of the state? Or, rather, does it lead to a scrutiny and control? The contributors to this work examine these phenomena in the former "Second" and "Third World" (Central and Eastern Europe, China and other parts of Asia and Africa) highlighting the very different ways in which continuing state interference and privatisation are implemented. What we are witnessing, according to this study, is not the eclipse of the state under the impact of globalisation but the end of the relatively short era of the "development state" and its commanding role. privatisation does not necessarily lead to a weakening of state control; it leads to new, and often more informal, forms of interference and influence, and it is these that are the book's central theme.

What is the scope and scale of corporatisation and privatisation in Australia in the past two decades and what are their implications for management, labour and industrial relations? This book documents the extensive scale of this process of state restructuring and the increasing variation in the arrangements for providing public goods and services, often accompanied by uncertainty. It shows many sectors of the community to be increasingly distrustful of their impact and consequences, and the way in which policy makers find themselves caught between promoting the reforms, predominantly for economic reasons, and answering to this suspicious community. It shows that it is those who actually provide public services who feel the changes most acutely, as they face questions about ownership, find their arrangements for work patterns and organization recast, and suffer increasing insecurity about work and employment futures. The book grapples with these issues through a series of case studies on Qantas, Telstra, the electricity industries in NSW and Victoria, Job Network, Local government and the Gas & Fuel Corporation of Victoria. These seven case studies, three of privatisations by the Australian Federal Government, and four of change initiated by State Governments, provide a detailed analysis of the resulting changes in employment and industrial relations.