Public-Private Policy Partnerships. Edited by Pauline Vaillancourt Rosenau. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. 256p. $45.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.

Abstract

Recent calls for public sector reform advocate reinvention, deregulation, reengineering, outsourcing, and privatization to address deficiencies in the classic bureaucratic model and to improve government performance. Reform efforts that seek to capitalize on the advantages offered by the three sectors-public, private, and voluntary-include experiments in public-private policy partnerships. Experience with coop- erative undertakings between the state and for-profit or third-sector service providers spans the last three decades. This book examines the pros and cons of these public-private policy partnerships, isolates the determinants of success or failure across policy spheres, and identifies the circumstances under which cross-sector partnering should be promoted or avoided.