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Abstract
After three decades of privatization and anti-state rhetoric, government ownership and public management are back in vogue. This book explores this rapidly growing trend towards ‘corporatization’ - public enterprises owned and operated by the state, with varying degrees of autonomy. If sometimes driven by neoliberal agendas, there exist examples of corporatization that could herald a brighter future for equity-oriented public services.
Drawing on original case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America, this book critically examines the histories, structures, ideologies and social impacts of corporatization in the water and electricity sectors, interrogating the extent to which it can move beyond commercial goals to deliver progressive public services. The first collection of its kind, Rethinking Corporatization and Public Services in the Global South offers rich empirical insight and theoretical depth into what has become one of the most important public policy shifts for essential services in the global South.
David McDonald is professor of global development studies at Queen’s University, Canada, and co-director of the Municipal Services Project. His research relates primarily to the delivery of essential services in the global South, and encompasses a broad spectrum of related questions around urbanization, environmental justice and uneven development.
'Is corporatization friend or foe of quality public service provision? This book offers a thorough critique, providing a theoretical framework and a set of criteria for evaluating this new reform in public service delivery. Case studies from around the world show the potential benefits and pitfalls of corporatization and raise questions about the role of the state and the meaning of "public" in service delivery. This is a must-read for policy-makers, practitioners and scholars of public service reform.'
Mildred E. Warner, Cornell University
'This book offers fresh thinking on corporatization and public enterprises and addresses important research questions in a multidisciplinary way. The analysis is grounded in new evidence and field research, making it essential reading for anyone interested in the benefits and risks of contemporary trends of governance reforms in the provision of essential public services.'
Massimo Florio, University of Milan
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| About the editor | i | ||
| Title | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Figures and tables | vi | ||
| Acknowledgements | vii | ||
| Abbreviations and acronyms | viii | ||
| 1 Public ambiguity and the multiple meanings of corporatization | 1 | ||
| State of the debate | 4 | ||
| Corporatization in historical perspective | 6 | ||
| Neoliberal corporatization | 9 | ||
| A progressive future? | 16 | ||
| Research methods | 18 | ||
| Table 1.1 List of case studies | 19 | ||
| Table 1.2 Criteria used to evaluate corporatization | 22 | ||
| Notes | 25 | ||
| References | 25 | ||
| 2 An exceptional electricity company in an atypical social democracy: Costa Rica’s ICE | 31 | ||
| An atypical social democracy | 32 | ||
| The evolution of electricity services in Costa Rica | 35 | ||
| ICE’s track record | 37 | ||
| Table 2.1 Current situation of the Costa Rican electricity sector vis-à-vis countries that have adopted market reforms | 38 | ||
| Figure 2.1 Electricity access in Latin America and the Caribbean | 40 | ||
| Figure 2.2 Average price of electricity in Latin America and the Caribbean | 42 | ||
| Table 2.2 Costa Rica’s installed generating capacity and power generation per source | 44 | ||
| Liberalization and corporatization of ICE | 47 | ||
| Conclusions | 57 | ||
| Notes | 58 | ||
| References | 58 | ||
| 3 Hybrid water governance in Burkina Faso: the ONEA experience | 62 | ||
| Neoliberal macro-reforms and foreign aid | 63 | ||
| Millennium Challenges | 65 | ||
| Decentralization | 66 | ||
| Rural–urban divides | 68 | ||
| History of ONEA | 69 | ||
| ONEA today | 74 | ||
| Figure 3.1 Water prices in selected African countries | 80 | ||
| Conclusion | 82 | ||
| Notes | 83 | ||
| References | 84 | ||
| 4 An ‘Arab Spring’ for corporatization? Tunisia’s national electricity company (STEG)\r | 88 | ||
| History of STEG | 89 | ||
| Contractualization = corporatization | 91 | ||
| Assessing STEG’s performance | 92 | ||
| After the revolution | 98 | ||
| Reflections and lessons learned | 101 | ||
| Notes | 103 | ||
| References | 104 | ||
| 5 Modernization and the boundaries of public water in Uruguay | 107 | ||
| OSE in regional context | 108 | ||
| Table 5.1 Average annual investment per capita in selected Latin American countries in water supply and sanitation | 109 | ||
| History of OSE | 110 | ||
| A model public water company | 115 | ||
| Corporatization: blurring the public–private divide | 123 | ||
| Conclusion | 130 | ||
| Acknowledgements | 132 | ||
| Notes | 132 | ||
| References | 132 | ||
| Interviews | 134 | ||
| 6 Can ‘public’ survive corporatization? The case of TNB in Malaysia | 136 | ||
| Table 6.1 The ‘standard menu’ for electricity reform | 138 | ||
| The Malaysian policy context | 139 | ||
| Table 6.2 OPP target ownership of share capital in companies, peninsular Malaysia, 1970–90 | 140 | ||
| Table 6.3 Comparative GDP per capita (2000 US$) and poverty performance | 144 | ||
| The corporatization of TNB | 145 | ||
| Table 6.4 Electricity sector performance in selected Asian countries, 1987 | 146 | ||
| Figure 6.1 Structure of authorities in the electricity sector in Malaysia | 148 | ||
| Post-corporatization performance | 148 | ||
| Table 6.5 TNB summary of financial performance, 2007–12 | 150 | ||
| Table 6.6 Comparative electricity prices, ASEAN-4 | 153 | ||
| Figure 6.2 Power sector reform proposals as applied to Tenaga’s current structure | 158 | ||
| Table 6.7 Emerging power sector reform proposals | 159 | ||
| Lessons learned | 160 | ||
| Notes | 161 | ||
| References | 161 | ||
| 7 Quasi-public: water districts in the Philippines | 164 | ||
| A brief history of water services in the Philippines | 166 | ||
| Table 7.1 Philippine water utilities by type of management model | 168 | ||
| The (confused) corporate personality of water districts | 168 | ||
| LMWD’s corporate personality | 170 | ||
| Lessons learned | 178 | ||
| Note | 181 | ||
| References | 181 | ||
| 8 Corporatization in the European water sector: lessons for the global South | 185 | ||
| Analytical framework | 186 | ||
| A brief history of corporatization in the EU | 187 | ||
| Advantages of corporatization in the EU | 190 | ||
| Problems with corporatization in the EU | 194 | ||
| Can corporatization strengthen public services? | 198 | ||
| Lessons for the global South | 199 | ||
| Acknowledgements | 202 | ||
| References | 202 | ||
| 9 Corporatization is dead … long live corporatization? | 207 | ||
| Progressive corporatization? | 209 | ||
| Re-aggregation | 212 | ||
| References | 214 | ||
| About the contributors | 218 | ||
| Index | 221 |