Critical Reflections on Public Private Partnerships

This book argues that despite the hype within many policy circles, there is actually very little evidence to support the presumed benefits of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in reducing poverty and addressing inequalities in the provision of and access to public services. Taking a cross-sectoral comparative approach, this book investigates how PPPs have played out in practice, and what the implications have been for inequalities. Drawing on a range of empirical case studies in education, healthcare, housing and water, the book picks apart the roles of PPPs as financing mechanisms in several international and national contexts and considers the similarities and differences between sectors. The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant questions about the future of social provision and through its analysis of the emergence and expansion of the role of PPPs, the book also makes a vital contribution to current discussion over this rapidly changing landscape. Overall, this wide-ranging guide to understanding and evaluating the role of PPPs in the Global South will be useful to researchers within development, international relations, economics, and related fields, as well as to policy makers and practitioners working in development-related policy.

"The book opens up a new vista into the existing debate on PPPs and their associated inequalities. The work presents a meaningful and systematic engagement with the debate, it assumes immense relevance in the emerging post-Pandemic scenario, and gives rich insights gleaned from a set of fascinating case studies cutting across various sectors in countries with varied contexts." -- Saumen Chattopadhyay, Professor, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India"Private delivery of public services and infrastructure through public-private partnerships has been promoted for the last 15 years as an effective way to achieve sustainable and equitable development. This book provides a wealth of evidence that this is not the case, demonstrating that there have been few improvements in affordability and accessibility for low income people, with any benefits mainly accruing to better off urban people. Critical scrutiny of such partnerships is all the more important in the context of the Covid crisis, as they have taken on new prominence in health and education. This book is essential reading for everyone concerned to build back better." -- Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor at University of Essex, and chair of the Commission on a Gender Equal Economy, UK "PPPs are currently the global ‘silver bullet’ for virtually all development problems. This collection of papers explores and critiques the claims made for and effects in practice of PPPs in a range of sectors and a variety of countries. The book offers important insights into how PPPs are changing public provision and the role of the state and patterns of social inequality. As well as policy analysts, it should also be read by politicians and policymakers contemplating the PPP route." -- Stephen J Ball FBA, Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Education, Institute of Education, University College London, UK"The great, innovative strength of this volume on public private partnerships is its nuanced, evidence-based theorisation of the changing characteristics of public private partnerships, drawing attention through illuminating case-studies on health, education and water to insidious, damaging impacts on the collective public good in selected countries in the South. The volume is a very significant contribution to extending our existing knowledge on public private partnerships and will be of interest to policymakers, practitioners, scholars and students interested in understanding inequality in and through public private partnerships." -- Robbie Van Niekerk, Professor & Chair of Public Governance, Wits School of Governance, South Africa

Jasmine Gideon is Reader in Gender, Health and International Development in the Department of Geography at Birkbeck, University of London, UK Elaine Unterhalter is Professor of Education and International Development, at University College London, UK, and Co-Director of the Centre for Education and International Development (CEID)