Privatization—Chipping Away at Government

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-128
Author(s):  
Donald Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right

This chapter focuses on the right wing's astonishingly successful efforts to privatize public goods and services. Privatization has been one of the highest priorities of the right wing for many years, and the chapter shows how it threatens both labor and democracy. Intentionally blurring the lines between public and private institutions, private companies and market forces undermine the common good. This chapter documents the history of privatization in the United States, from President Reagan's early efforts to Clinton and Gore's belief in private markets. Showing how privatization undermines democratic government, the chapter describes complex contracts that are difficult to understand, poorly negotiated “public–private partnership” deals, and contracts that provide incentives to deny public services. With huge amounts of money at stake, privateers are increasingly weighing in on policy debates—not based on the public interest but rather in pursuit of avenues that increase their revenues, profits, and market share. Privatization not only destroys union jobs but also aims to cripple union political involvement so that the corporate agenda can spread unfettered. Nevertheless, community-based battles against privatization have succeeded in many localities, demonstrating the power of fighting back to defend public services, public jobs, and democratic processes.

Digital Resources: Chile’s Centro de Investigación y Documentación (CIDOC) and Anti-Communism in the 1964 Elections

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Botto Stuven
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Christian Democracy ◽  
Salvador Allende ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

The Documentation Center of the Contemporary History of Chile (CIDOC), which belongs to the Universidad Finis Terrae (Santiago), has a digital archive that contains the posters and newspapers inserts of the anti-communist campaign against Salvador Allende’s presidential candidacy in 1964. These appeared in the main right-wing newspapers of Santiago, between January and September of 1964. Although the collection of posters in CIDOC is not complete, it is a resource of great value for those who want to research this historical juncture, considering that those elections were by far the most contested and conflicting in the history of Chile during the 20th Century, as it implicted the confrontation between two candidates defending two different conceptions about society, politics, and economics. On the one hand, Salvador Allende, the candidate of the Chilean left; on the other, Eduardo Frei, the candidate of the Christian Democracy, coupled with the traditional parties of the Right. While the technical elements of the programs of both candidates did not differ much from each other, the political campaign became the scenario for an authentic war between the “media” that stood up for one or the other candidate. Frei’s anticommunist campaign had the financial aid of the United States, and these funds were used to gather all possible resources to create a real “terror” in the population at the perspective of the Left coming to power. The Chilean Left labeled this strategy of using fear as the “Terror Campaign.”

scholarly journals Supply Chain Manipulation, Misrepresentation, and Magical Thinking During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 628-634
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Atkinson ◽  
Clifford McCue ◽  
Eric Prier ◽  
Allison M. Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Public Procurement ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Magical Thinking ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
The Public ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Political Advantage

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed remarkable stress on all aspects of society, from health care and the economy to the psychological well-being of communities. While the crisis is still playing out in the United States and around the world, it is nevertheless appropriate to begin to assess its impact. This article asks: What documentable public failures provide a deeper understanding of the U.S. government COVID-19 responses’ impact on supply chains? Case examples show that markets were adversely affected in ways that caused avoidable shortages of critical goods and supplies. Moreover, public procurement effectiveness was likely reduced by short-run efforts to obtain political advantage. The article begins with a brief review of disaster procurement, highlighting how public procurement professionals tried to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next section delineates three politically led phenomena that adversely impacted procurement’s ability to acquire the needed goods and services, including a lack of cohesive strategy in acquiring essential personal protective equipment; preference for unproven drugs and magical thinking; and cozy relationships between the public and private sectors. The article concludes by discussing the centrality of public sector procurement professionals as a critical link for effective provision of government services, especially in times of crisis.

Cookery and Copyright: A History of One Cookbook in Three Acts

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Helms Tippen ◽  
Heidi S. Hakimi-Hood ◽  
Amanda Milian
Keyword(s):  
Book History ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
The Right ◽  
Training Institute ◽  
The U.S

This article examines the history and movements of one collection of recipes in three “acts” or iterations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell's A New System of Domestic Cookery is published in London in 1806, and almost immediately, the book is pirated and printed in the United States. More than 100 years later, the same collection of recipes is reprinted by S. Thomas Bivins under the title The Southern Cookbook. The authors discuss the implications of the text's movements through the lens of book history and copyright law. Rundell sues her publisher, John Murray, for the right to control the publication of her recipes. Meanwhile, in the U.S., her book is continuously in print for decades, but Rundell receives no remuneration for it. Bivins, an African American merchant and principal of a training institute for black domestic workers, takes the recipes attributed to Rundell from the public domain for The Southern Cookbook. The authors conclude that this cookbook in three acts demonstrates how a history of the cookbook in general can challenge received understandings of authorship and textual ownership.

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Eisenberg ◽  
Deborah Zarin
Keyword(s):  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Source Of Information

Governments may perform health technology assessment (HTA) in their roles as a regulator in the public interest, as a source of information for decision makers in the public and private sectors, and/or as a purchaser or provider of healthcare services. The U.S. government's roles in the health sector as a regulator, source of information, and purchaser and provider of services are influenced both by characteristics of that sector and by its stakeholders' effectiveness in influencing national health policy debates.

scholarly journals River Management for Local Governments in China: From Public to Private

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 2174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangfan Liu ◽  
Xiongzhi Xue
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Public Services ◽  
River Management ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Complex Projects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Government Payment ◽  
Quality Evaluation System

The Public and Private Partnership (PPP) model has been used to provide public services and goods. In China, local governments are willing to use the PPP model in many public services, such as integrated river management (IRM) projects, due to ease fiscal budget and the improved access to technology from the private sector. However, there has not been any specific discussion in the literature for applying the PPP model to IRM projects. In this study, we find that the PPP model results in the non-standardization of IRM projects. Our research paper builds the PPP operation framework for IRM projects. Our findings suggest that while the environmental quality evaluation system created in contracts for government payment seems to be optimal for protecting the public interest, it actually strains the partnership between the two parties and so its implementation should be considered on a case by case basis. Since the history of IRM projects using the PPP model is short, the actual performances of these types of projects has not yet been demonstrated. Local governments should be cautious about adopting the PPP model for such projects, and private companies should be cautious about their involvement. Our research will garner more scholarly attention to the application of the PPP model in complex projects.

Private Prisons in a New Environment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D. Camp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Prisons ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Prison Populations ◽  
Public Versus Private

This chapter focuses on the current state of practice, policy, and research related to privately operated prisons in the United States. I begin with a brief overview of the history of the rapid growth in the private sector in the United States, followed by a discussion of costs of public versus private prisons. While costs are easily quantified, assigning the proper costs to the public and private sectors has presented much controversy in previous studies. The issue of quality of correctional services provided by public versus private prisons is also reviewed, given that there is little agreement on the type of measures that allow for fair comparisons of public and private prisons. The chapter concludes with thoughts on issues facing public and private prisons in an era marked by stability or decline as opposed to rapid growth in prison populations.

Good government, democratisation and traditional African political philosophy: the example of the Kanyok of the Congo

1998 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Yoder
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Environments ◽  
Good Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Will ◽  
State Of Affairs

Over the last several decades, officials in both the public and private sectors have applied economic, military, cultural, academic and diplomatic tools to promote the spread of democratic pluralism in African and elsewhere. With the fall of Africa's most resilient tyrant, Mobutu Sese Seko, there is hope that even one of Africa's most troubled systems may be transformed into a state that reflects the will of the people and promotes the common good. Sober observers, however, remain pessimistic. Laurent Kabila's spotted record on human rights, his stubborn intolerance of political opposition, the challenging global economic and political environments, and the long history of bad government in Mobutu's Zaïre are obvious reasons for concern. Furthermore, the example of most other African states is not encouraging. With the exception of countries such as South Africa and Botswana, even the most tenuous democratic progress in Africa is often slowed, blocked or reversed.Generally, blame for this state of affairs has been levelled against the African political elite, the burden of colonialism, or international political and economic pressures. Specifically, for the Congo, Mobutu's kleptocracy, Belgium's paternalism, America's backing of a friendly dictator and the World Bank's support for ill-advised ‘development’ schemes all have been criticised. While such reproaches may be well deserved, this article argues that it is important to ask if the persistent failure of democracy in the Congo as well as in other African states is also related to African political culture.

The Right to Life Movement: Sources, Development, and Strategies

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-159
Author(s):  
Keith Cassidy
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Policy Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Life Movement

Social movements play a critical role in the development of public policy in modern America. An extensive literature provides us with valuable insights into their growth and evolution, but in the end it cannot substitute for the history of specific movements, which can be understood only in the particular circumstances of their birth and development. Over the last fifty years few movements have had the long-standing visibility, the mass involvement, and the public impact of the Right to Life movement. While there is still no adequate full-length account of the movement, an outline of some of the major aspects of its history, particularly as it is relevant to the public policy process in the United States, can be provided. Before embarking on that task, I will review and assess current interpretations of the movement, at both the popular and scholarly levels, and suggest a plausible explanation of its social sources and characteristics.

scholarly journals The Partnership between the Public and Private Alternative or Supportive Iraq and Algeria as a Model for the Period (2004-2020)

Webology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1119-1132
Author(s):  
Ghassan Tareq Dhahir ◽  
Wadhah Raheem Rahi
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of

The study analysed the reality of partnership between the public and private sectors in Iraq and Algeria by highlighting the history of partnership in both countries and the legal legislation and the most important partnership contracts through existing investments. The study concluded that the reality of partnership in both alternatives is still weak and that most of the investments were not industrial. The task or the main sectors, but rather some public services administration projects, which may be covered by the state’s public institutions, in addition to the fact that the total existing projects are very little compared to some Arab countries that have come a long way in this harm, such as the UAE, Qatar and even Saudi Arabia.

scholarly journals Challenging the Carceral Imaginary in a Digital Age: Epistemic Asymmetries and the Right to Be Forgotten

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Andrea J. Pitts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
Right To Be Forgotten ◽  
Criminal Histories ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Epistemic Asymmetry ◽  
The Impact

This paper argues that debates regarding legal protections to preserve the privacy of data subjects, such as those involving the European Union’s right to be forgotten, have tended to overlook group-level forms of epistemic asymmetry and their impact on members of historically oppressed groups. In response, I develop what I consider an abolitionist approach to issues of digital justice. I begin by exploring international debates regarding digital privacy and the right to be forgotten. Then, I turn to the long history of informational asymmetries impacting racialized populations in the United States. Such asymmetries, I argue, comprise epistemic injustices that are also implicated within the patterns of racialized incarceration in the United States. The final section brings together questions regarding the impact of such epistemic injustices on incarcerated peoples and focuses specifically on the public availability of criminal histories in online search databases as a fundamental issue within conversations regarding digital justice. I thus conclude by building from the work of contemporary abolitionist writers to argue that the underlying concerns of an individualized right to be forgotten should be transformed into a collective effort to undermine societal carceral imaginaries.

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