Rethinking Corporatization and Public Services in the Global South

After three decades of privatization and anti-state rhetoric, government ownership and public management are back in vogue. Corporatization has been a particularly popular form of public enterprise, creating services that are fully owned and operated by the state but function with a degree of autonomy. While some of these reforms continue to be driven by neoliberal mandates, in reality a much more complex set of undercurrents is driving corporatization in practice.

Taking in case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America, this important book examines the structures and ideologies of corporatization in water and electricity services in countries in the Global South, interrogating to what extent corporatization can be considered a 'progressive' form of public service delivery, or just another variant of commercialization.

A key work, offering empirical insight and theoretical depth into what is likely to be one of the most important public policy trends for many years to come.

David McDonald is Professor of Global Development Studies at Queen's University, and Co-Director of the Municipal Services Project.

1. Introduction: Public Ambiguity and Multiple Meanings of Corporatization; David A McDonald
2. An Exceptional Electricity Company in an Atypical Social Democracy: Costa Rica's ICE; Daniel Chavez
3. Hybrid Water Governance in Burkina Faso; Catherine Baron
4. An 'Arab Spring' for Corporatization? Tunisia's National Electricity Company (STEG); Ali Bennasr and Eric Verdeil
5. Modernization and the Boundaries of Public Water in Uruguay; Susan Spronk, Carlos Crespo and Marcela Olivera
6. Can Public Survive Corporatization? The Case of TNB in Malaysia; Nepomuceno A. Malaluan
7. Quasi-Public: Water Districts in the Philippines; Buenaventura B. Dargantes, Victor G. Chiong, Hedda P. Dargantes and Elsie B. Mira
8. The EU; Emanuele Lobina
9. Conclusion; David A McDonald