Public‐private partnerships: consultation,cooperation and collusion

In late 2002, public‐private partnerships (PPP) rose to the attention of the New Zealand public and gained media attention due to what became known as the ‘Armstrong affair’. This paper provides an overview of the Armstrong affair and of the issues engendered by the affair for the formation of policy in relation to PPP. The most fundamental of these issues was the correct relationship between the public and private sectors. The Armstrong case illustrates the way in which the demarcation between the two sectors must be maintained—and seen to be maintained—in the conduct of public affairs. If it is not, the accusation may rightly be levelled that the processes of consultation and cooperation have crossed over into collusion. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Privatisation and labour militancy: The case of Cameroon's tea estates

Privatisation has become a cornerstone of the neo-liberal reforms imposed by western donors and creditors upon African states. This study of the privatisation of the tea estates in Anglophone Cameroon seems to largely confirm widespread evidence that both African governments and civil-society organisations have for various reasons been inclined to oppose externally imposed privatisation schemes. However, it shows that the most militant opposition has come from the Tole Tea Estate's predominantly female labour force whose already precarious living and working conditions have been further deteriorated by a secretive and corrupt privatisation scheme. In the absence of any public support from the regional civil-society organisations, the militant actions of the estate workers were bound to remain local expressions of anger.     

Losing the Feminist Voice? Debates on The Legal Recognition of Same Sex Partnerships in Canada

Over the last decade, legal recognition of same-sex relationships in Canada has accelerated. By and large, same-sex cohabitants are now recognised in the same manner as opposite-sex cohabitants, and same-sex marriage was legalised in 2005. Without diminishing the struggle that lesbians and gay men have endured to secure this somewhat revolutionary legal recognition, this article troubles its narrative of progress. In particular, we investigate the terms on which recent legal struggles have advanced, as well as the ways in which resistance to the legal recognition has been expressed and dealt with. We argue that to the extent that feminist critiques of marriage, familial ideology, and the privatisation of economic responsibility are marginalised, conservative and heteronormative discourses on marriage and family are reinforced. Our case studies include two pivotal moments in the quest for legislative recognition of same-sex relationships: the Hearings of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on Bill C-23, The Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, in 2000 and the hearings on Same-Sex Marriage in 2003. We find that the debates operated within a narrow paradigm that bolstered many existing hierarchies and exacerbated conditions for those who are economically disadvantaged.     

The Welfare State in Transition Economies and Accession to the EU

Welfare state reform in East-Central Europe can be divided into two phases: in the first phase, when liberalisation, stabilisation and privatisation were of primary importance, only minor or absolutely necessary reform steps were taken. This soon led many countries into fiscal problems that triggered the second phase of substantial pension and health system reforms. Having been already part of the European welfare state tradition in the pre-communist period, the countries of East-Central Europe were not prepared to take over the essentially private three pillar model of the World Bank. Instead the forerunners of reform, such as Hungary, Poland and Latvia, are developing, together with some incumbent EU members, a new European four pillar model with a specific public-private mix. Even if the social acquis communautaire is not very restrictive for the candidate states, they seem keen to join the European welfare state culture.     

‘When I find myself in times of trouble …’ : The conditional effect of international organisations on policy convergence

Most quantitative analyses of policy convergence treat transnational communication in international organisations and domestic economic problems as additive factors. By contrast, this article argues that domestic economic problems motivate governments to search for successful policies, while international organisations offer channels for policy learning. Thus, both factors interact, magnifying each other's effects. The argument is corroborated by a quantitative analysis of the privatisation of telecommunications providers in the Western OECD world. A dyadic logit model shows that joint membership in international organisations increases the likelihood of policy convergence if governments face budget deficits. The argument of the article builds a bridge between theories of international organisations and domestic theories of policy making. Theories of the former gain an important scope condition specifying the conditions under which transnational communication works, while exploring the latter gains a theory specifying where new policy ideas come from.