Public-Private Partnerships and the Public Accountability Question (original) (raw)

Concentrated Hopes, Diffused Responsibilities: Accountability in Public-Private Partnerships

1999

Public-private partnerships have emerged, in the last couple of decades, as a new institutional arrangement through which to deal with a variety of key societal concerns, such as environmental improvement, regional and urban economic development, and educational reforms. Despite the rapid growth in their number, scope, and influence, there is still a need for considerable theoretical and empirical work exploring the nature of these multi-sectoral collaborative arrangements. One area of inquiry in which little scholarly work has been conducted is the topic of accountability mechanisms in public-private partnerships. As the focus of this paper, we explore this topic by first identifying some of the basic properties of these partnerships as they differ from traditional hierarchical organizations. We then analyze five different accountability mechanisms that have been used to historically to enhance the accountability of public as well as private organizations. These mechanisms include bureaucratic, political, professional, legal, and market approaches to accountability. Our analysis summarizes the basic characteristics of these five approaches to accountability and examines the potential relevance of each for accountability in the context of public-private partnerships. In light of the various weaknesses of these traditional approaches, we then propose a number of guidelines regarding three alternative approaches to accountability that are more consistent with the basic nature and purpose of public-private partnerships. We conclude the paper with some brief comments regarding possible future directions for research on accountability in public-private partnerships.

Public-Private Partnerships: Origin, Limitations and Prospects for Public Sector Accounting

REAd. Revista Eletrônica de Administração (Porto Alegre), 2020

The main objective of this research is to identify and discuss theoretically the advances, limitations and perspectives pointed by international research to improve the accountability and evaluation aspects of PPPs. This is a theoretical essay based on the Public Choice Theory to show that the PPP accounting treatment is relevant to avoid lack of transparency and accountability, mitigating possible losses in the decision-making process and the ineffective allocation of public resources. The discussion of topics reveals the importance of public accounting in measuring the financial and social consequences that the shared responsibility of PPPs can have, defending the public interest and democratic relations. It is argued that different factors may influence PPP accounting issues, involving governance limitations, institutional weaknesses, widespread corruption, lack of transparency, weak regulatory environments, power imbalances between partners, lack of political commitment and trus...

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Potential Impacts and Critical Success Factors

HAPSc Policy Briefs Series, 2021

In recent years, PPPs have been increasingly used to implement projects and provide public services. The governments have made the necessary legislative and financial efforts in order to promote PPPs, given the need to acquire know-how from the private sector and the advantages they bring to the public sector and the citizens. However, the use of PPPs should be carefully planned as, in addition to the wider social and economic impacts, failures and negative results have been observed. This article attempts to present the main characteristics of PPPs, cite their possible impacts and quote their critical success factors in order to make PPPs more beneficial for the involved parties and the citizens.

Public–Private Partnerships: from Contested Concepts to Prevalent Practice

International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2004

This article explores the current state of knowledge in relation to public–private partnerships (PPPs), taken to mean working arrangements based on a mutual commitment (over and above that implied in any contract) between a public sector organization with any organization outside of the public sector. Since it originally became fashionable over 25 years ago, the concept of PPPs has been strongly contested. However, PPPs are now to be found in the public domain in many countries around the world and their number has been increasing in recent years. This article looks at how this has happened, what have been the strengths and weaknesses of this development and what the future may hold for PPPs. It argues that we are still at an early stage of learning which types of PPP are appropriate for which tasks and at managing PPPs to increase public value. It will be essential to apply principles of good governance to the future development of PPPs — but it will also be necessary to ensure tha...

Public-private partnerships: Perspectives on purposes, publicness, and good governance

Public Administration and Development, 2011

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have long been advocated and analyzed as organizational solutions to pressing societal problems that call for the comparative advantages of government, business, and civil society. However, ongoing questions remain about how to design, manage, and assess PPPs. The large literature on PPPs suffers from conceptual imprecision, and is weakly integrated. This article seeks to address these problems. It offers a discussion of partnership definitions and builds a framework that examines the features of PPPs as they relate to achieving particular purposes: policy, service delivery, infrastructure, capacity building, and economic development. The article summarizes the contributions to the symposium: social enterprise PPPs that target poverty reduction, health service delivery partnerships with faith-based organizations, diasporas as partners for international development, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and the Better Factories Cambodia partnership. In examining cross-cutting themes, the analysis focuses on publicness and potential to promote international norms associated with good governance. Conclusions address the role of new partners in PPPs, the difficulties in finding a balance of interests and incentives among partners, the implications of embodying and promoting international good governance norms and values, the different sources of authority that operate within PPPs, and the trade-offs among PPPs' advantages. 1 We recognize that the concept of publicness involves a significant degree of complexity, where the relevant considerations are not either-or determinations (for example, public-private, individual-communal, state-market), but questions of relative degree (see Pesch, 2005). spread and implementation of global norms and liberal values, such as human rights, good governance, and the 'freedoms' associated with economic development . These are the dual focuses of this symposium issue and the individual articles that comprise it.

Public-Private Partnerships: much more than a contract

2003

This research examines the effectiveness presented by Public-Private Partnerships as a mechanism to promoting growth and building capacity in South Africa, at both the national and local level. It is concerned with exploring the broader benefits of publicprivate partnerships outside the range of technical and financial contributions and investigates the extent of capacity building that is necessary to bring about stronger more sustainable partnerships. Comparison is undertaken by means of analyses of primary and secondary data to determine international trends and best practice in the adoption of the public-private partnership approach. A series of key informant interviews will assist determine the effectiveness and benefits presented by public-private partnerships through the perceptions of key players and policy makers at policy level and implementation level. Different case experiences will also be used determine the existing experiences of publicprivate partnerships and to establish a way forward for future public-private partnerships. It can be concluded that despite the infrastructure and service delivery backlogs and the crisis faced by most governments in the developing world, most world local governments are looking to decentralization as an option to promote sustainable development. As part of this process local governments have been found to seek solutions in partnering with the private sector to effect more efficient service delivery solutions to the communities served. Public-Private partnerships present a very good policy tool which can create many positive benefits if managed and structured correctly. For Public-Private Partnerships to succeed there has to be high levels of commitment from all stakeholders, and the process must be effected in a participatory and consultative manner to ensure that such partnerships are sustainable and beneficial towards promoting growth.