Critics of privatisation are often told they present no alternatives. This book takes up that challenge, proposing conceptual models for what constitutes an alternative to privatisation and analyses what makes them successful (or not), backed up by empirical data on creative public service initiatives in over 40 countries in the Global South. This groundbreaking study provides a robust platform for comparisons across regions and sectors, with a focus on health, water and electricity. Alternatives to Privatisation is a compelling study and has been written by leading academics, practitioners and activists in the field.
Here is a book that many have been waiting for: an empirical, theoretical and normative case for defending and innovating the public. In resisting neoliberalism we need to show that there are viable alternatives to the privatisation and commercialisation of essential services. This book does not romanticise the state, or community, and illustrates that the public comes in many forms and guises; both good and bad. The public is a terrain on which people must struggle if we are to realise our commitments to social, cultural and economic rights.
David McCoy - University College London and Peoples Health Movement
At a time that neoliberal solutions to social services have lost credibility, this book argues convincingly that alternatives to privatisation exist and are often more effective than private enterprises. Drawing on examples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, this book drives home the lesson that broad-based consultation and participation in service delivery is an essential ingredient of success.
Walden Bello - Author, academic, and political analyst
Product information
List of tables
List of figures
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction: In search of alternatives to privatisation
DAVID A MCDONALD AND GREG RUITERS
2 Weighing the options: Methodological considerations
DAVID A MCDONALD AND GREG RUITERS
PART I Actors, issues and ideologies
3 Terrains of neoliberalism: Constraints and opportunities for alternative models of service delivery
BEN FINE AND DAVID HALL
4 Transformative resistance: The role of labour and trade unions in alternatives to privatisation
HILARY WAINWRIGHT
5 Gendering justice, building alternative futures
CHANDRA TALPADE MOHANTY AND SARAH MIRAGLIA
6 Social movement struggles for public services
SUSAN SPRONK AND PHILIPP TERHORST
7 Careful what you ask for: State-led alternatives to privatisation
DAVID A MCDONALD AND GREG RUITERS
PART II Sectoral and regional reviews
Asia: Regional overview
JENINA JOY CHAVEZ
8 Creating, reclaiming, defending: Non-commercialised alternatives in the health sector in Asia
AMIT SENGUPTA
9 Springs of hope: Alternatives to commercialisation of water resources and services in Asia
BUENAVENTURA DARGANTES, CHERYL BATISTEL AND MARY ANN MANAHAN
10 The public in Asia power
NEPOMUCENO MALALUAN
Africa: Regional overview
GREG RUITERS
11 African triage: Assessing alternatives to health care privatisation south of the Sahara
YOSWA M. DAMBISYA AND HYACINTH EME ICHOKU
12 Where have all the alternatives gone? The shrinking of African water policy options
KATE BAYLISS AND AL-HASSAN ADAM
13 Electrifying Africa: Turning a continental challenge into a peoples opportunity
TERRI HATHAWAY
Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional overview
SUSAN SPRONK
14 Progressive alternatives in primary health care in Latin America
LUIS ORTIZ HERNNDEZ, ILIANA CAMACHO CUAPIO, CATALINA EIBENSCHUTZ HARTMAN AND SILVIA TAMEZ GONZLEZ
15 Struggles for water justice in Latin America: Public and social-public alternatives
SUSAN SPRONK, CARLOS CRESPO AND MARCELA OLIVERA
16 Alternatives in the electricity sector in Latin America 453
DANIEL CHAVEZ
PART III Looking ahead
17 Conclusion: Ways forward for alternatives in health care, water and electricity
DAVID A MCDONALD AND GREG RUITERS
Contributors
Index
