Title: The institutionalisation of public-private partnerships in the UK and the nation-state of California

Authors: Istemi Demirag, Iqbal Khadaroo, Woodrow Clark

Addresses: Management School, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Ireland. ' Management School, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Ireland. ' University of California, LA and Riverside, USA; Clark Strategic Partners, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Abstract: This paper explores, from an institutional theory framework, the causes of and responses to the institutionalisation processes of Public Private Partnership (PPP), as a new public management policy in the UK and the nation-state of California. It explores some of the problems of failing to implement the |desired| objectives of public sector reforms. It argues that although the governments are confronted with similar pressures and have recognised the value of such public-private partnerships, their strategic responses have been significantly different: the UK government is pushing the public sector into |shared governance| while in California, the state is being |defiant| by redefining regulation and the deregulated public sector, albeit in an uncoordinated manner and under the strict new national standards and guidelines. The paper demonstrates that there is a need to find |compromises| and/or |manipulative| mechanisms between the extremes of either the public or private sector, which has become known as |civic-markets|.

Keywords: privatisation; deregulation; shared governance; public-private partnerships; PPPs; new public management; NPM; nation-states; institutional theory; civic markets; UK; United Kingdom; California; public sector reforms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2009.023488

International Journal of Public Policy, 2009 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.190 - 213

Published online: 25 Feb 2009 *

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