How do we provide effective public services in a deeply neoliberal world? In the wake of the widespread failure of privatisation efforts, societies in the global south are increasingly seeking progressive ways of recreating the public sector. With contributors ranging from cutting-edge scholars to activists working in health, water, and energy provision, and with case studies covering a broad spectrum of localities and actors, Making Public in a Privatized World uncovers the radically different ways in which public services are being reshaped from the grassroots up. From communities holding the state accountable for public health in rural Guatemala, to waste pickers in India and decentralized solar electricity initiatives in Africa, the essays in this collection offer probing insights into the complex ways in which people are building genuine alternatives to privatization, while also illustrating the challenges which communities face in creating public services which are not subordinated to the logic of the market, or to the monolithic state entities of the past.

The book the American Prospect calls “an essential resource for future reformers on how not to govern,” by America’s leading defender of the public interest and a bestselling historian “An essential read for those who want to fight the assault on public goods and the commons.” —Naomi Klein A sweeping exposé of the ways in which private interests strip public goods of their power and diminish democracy, the hardcover edition of The Privatization of Everything elicited a wide spectrum of praise: Kirkus Reviews hailed it as “a strong, economics-based argument for restoring the boundaries between public goods and private gains,” Literary Hub featured the book on a Best Nonfiction list, calling it “a far-reaching, comprehensible, and necessary book,” and Publishers Weekly dubbed it a “persuasive takedown of the idea that the private sector knows best.” From Diane Ravitch (“an important new book about the dangers of privatization”) to Heather McGhee (“a well-researched call to action”), the rave reviews mirror the expansive nature of the book itself, covering the impact of privatization on every aspect of our lives, from water and trash collection to the justice system and the military. Cohen and Mikaelian also demonstrate how citizens can—and are—wresting back what is ours: A Montana city took back its water infrastructure after finding that they could do it better and cheaper. Colorado towns fought back well-funded campaigns to preserve telecom monopolies and hamstring public broadband. A motivated lawyer fought all the way to the Supreme Court after the state of Georgia erected privatized paywalls around its legal code. “Enlightening and sobering” (Rosanne Cash), The Privatization of Everything connects the dots across a wide range of issues and offers what Cash calls “a progressive voice with a firm eye on justice [that] can carefully parse out complex issues for those of us who take pride in citizenship.”

Public banks are dynamic, contested institutions with the potential to decarbonize the environment, definancialise the economy, and democratise global development.

In Privatization in Turkey: Power Bloc, Capital Accumulation and State, Ahmet Zaifer offers a rare look on privatization in Turkey that involves all three historical periods of Turkish privatization process -1980s and 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s- and covers different forms of privatization from divestiture to public-private partnership. Benefiting from theoretically informed qualitative research spanning nearly a decade that has involved several interviews with key informant groups, extensive review of newspaper articles and detailed analysis of annual reports of businesses, Ahmet Zaifer convincingly proves that the acceleration of privatization in Turkey has not only provided advantages to so-called favourable capital groups and the government elites, but also consolidated the position of Capital in General at the expense of labouring-popular classes and the natural environment of the entire country.

Why government outsourcing of public powers is making us less free Many governmental functions today—from the management of prisons and welfare offices to warfare and financial regulation—are outsourced to private entities. Education and health care are funded in part through private philanthropy rather than taxation. Can a privatized government rule legitimately? The Privatized State argues that it cannot. In this boldly provocative book, Chiara Cordelli argues that privatization constitutes a regression to a precivil condition—what philosophers centuries ago called "a state of nature." Developing a compelling case for the democratic state and its administrative apparatus, she shows how privatization reproduces the very same defects that Enlightenment thinkers attributed to the precivil condition, and which only properly constituted political institutions can overcome—defects such as provisional justice, undue dependence, and unfreedom. Cordelli advocates for constitutional limits on privatization and a more democratic system of public administration, and lays out the central responsibilities of private actors in contexts where governance is already extensively privatized. Charting a way forward, she presents a new conceptual account of political representation and novel philosophical theories of democratic authority and legitimate lawmaking. The Privatized State shows how privatization undermines the very reason political institutions exist in the first place, and advocates for a new way of administering public affairs that is more democratic and just.

How can our students find - or make - spaces where their ideas and arguments can be heard? Living Room takes up this question in an age defined not only by YouTube and My Space but also the conversion of public streets to festival marketplaces, the creation of cordoned-off and tucked-away "free speech" zones, and the state sanctioning of ethnic profiling. In Living Room Nancy Welch traces the erosion of publicity rights to post-9/11 legislation and, more troublingly, to nearly thirty years of neoliberal privatization of space, institutions, and resources - even the very idea of who has the authority to speak and argue, especially in the political and public arenas. Joining the field's reinvigorated interest in public writing and rhetorical history, Welch argues that if we're to explore with our students when, where, and how they can deliver arguments that matter, we need to look to the lessons of earlier generations. Especially in the 20th century's struggles for labor and civil rights - the struggles that won "living room" rights for ordinary people in the first place - we find consequential (and sometimes unruly) arguments: workers shutting down production lines and cash registers, students disrupting segregated lunch counters, AIDS-HIV activists dying-in across a Wall Street intersection. By examining these and other vibrant models of rhetorical action in our classrooms, we can help our students better understand how to deliver effective arguments in the most restrictive of circumstances and how to most effectively shape their arguments using genre, collaboration, audience, tone, and style. Living Room vigorously critiques our privatized era "of shopping malls and Clear Channel; of state-sanctioned ethnic profiling and militarized responses to public protest; of private economic interests colluding to shape public policy on everything from energy and interest rates to health care and access to the airwaves." Read Living Room and heed Nancy Welch's call for a reinvigorated rhetoric that connects your composition classroom with a contentious, lively history of writing as social action.

Whereas the global water community may have reached consensus on the need for water providers to operate on the basis of commercial principles, staff of water utilities are faced with the challenge of implementing these principles in their everyday work. In the everyday domain, these principles appear to directly conflict with the mandate of water operators to provide water services to all. Moreover, the socio-political, economic and bio-physical context in which these water operate may be ill-suited to implement commercialization. In pursuing commercialization these operators adapt, reinterpret, modify, deflect, alter or betray the original principles of commercialization during implementation. This research takes inspiration from the rich literature on policy implementation and policy translation, which argues that policy models need to be transformed and modified if they are to be successfully adopted or implemented. This research analyzes the alterations visible in the daily implementation of commercial models of water provisioning and, in doing so, present a better understanding of how water operators implement policy prescriptions of commercialization in practice. Based on the analysis of the adaptations and (re)interpretations of the implemented model of commercialization in the different cases, this thesis argues that a new way of speaking about commercialization should be developed.

This book explores the causes and consequences of market failure in bridging societal differences to create a shared economy. It questions the current world order and evaluates socio-economic gains in reference to the social origins of the economic agents. With a need to counterbalance economic growth with social equality and environmental sustainability, the book proposes innovative approaches to address key questions on the contemporary global economy such as, "Is the Global socio-economic order supportive of the pursuit of rational and enlightened self -interest?", "Is it a unipolar power centre and neoliberal economic policy regime?", "Can the system reinvent itself?", etc. One approach encourages going back to the golden past and making things "great again", insisting that history has ended and the failures of old global institutions be blamed on the "Clash of Civilizations". Another approach advocates giving up the intellectual comfort zone of elegant but irrelevant neo-liberal explanations of global challenges and asking new questions that take academic debate to the public square. The book examines the internal challenges and contradictions that cause disintegration and proposes alternative ideas and practices in moving the global community beyond the free market regime. The book will appeal to students and academics of development studies, political economy, political science, sociology, as well as policymakers and public opinion makers interested in creating a new egalitarian global society.

This collection of original essays explores the myriad expressions of austerity since the 2008 financial crisis. Case studies drawn from Canada, Australia and the European Union provide extensive comparative analysis of fiscal consolidation and the varied political responses against austerity. Contributions examine such themes as privatization, class mobilization and resistance, the crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of the far right. The potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in shaping future austerity and alternatives is signalled. Given the rapidly shifting terrain, this comprehensive handbook provides important insights into a complex and fast-changing period of politics and policy.