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A Politics of InevitabilityPrivatisation, globalisation and neo-liberalism: governance in the 1990s

A Politics of Inevitability: Privatisation, globalisation and neo-liberalism: governance in the... [Although this study is concerned with privatisation in terms of the policy that has emerged since the 1970s, privatisation is not a new phenomenon. It can, for example, be traced back to ancient Greece, where the government owned the land, forests and mines but ‘outsourced’ work to firms and individuals (Megginson and Netter 2001, 323). With regard to water supply and sanitation services (WSS), private ownership and management were dominant in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term itself is, however, relatively new and is most commonly associated with the Thatcher government of the 1980s. Perhaps surprisingly, however, its roots are German. Although widely believed to have been coined by the American economist Peter Drucker in the late 1960s, it has been revealed that a form of the term was first in use in Germany between the 1930s and 1950s (Bel 2006, 192). Privatisierung emerged as an academic term to describe the Nazi economic policy of transferring some of the state’s monopolies to the private sector. One objective of the policy was to consolidate support for the regime amongst the business elite. There is a “rich historical irony” (Bel 2006, 193) here: the contemporary arguments made against privatisation (that it ultimately only benefits political and business elites) are similar to the arguments made in favour of privatisation in 1930s Germany.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Politics of InevitabilityPrivatisation, globalisation and neo-liberalism: governance in the 1990s

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Publisher
VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Copyright
© VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Wiesbaden 2012
ISBN
978-3-531-18219-3
Pages
33 –52
DOI
10.1007/978-3-531-94056-4_2
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Although this study is concerned with privatisation in terms of the policy that has emerged since the 1970s, privatisation is not a new phenomenon. It can, for example, be traced back to ancient Greece, where the government owned the land, forests and mines but ‘outsourced’ work to firms and individuals (Megginson and Netter 2001, 323). With regard to water supply and sanitation services (WSS), private ownership and management were dominant in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term itself is, however, relatively new and is most commonly associated with the Thatcher government of the 1980s. Perhaps surprisingly, however, its roots are German. Although widely believed to have been coined by the American economist Peter Drucker in the late 1960s, it has been revealed that a form of the term was first in use in Germany between the 1930s and 1950s (Bel 2006, 192). Privatisierung emerged as an academic term to describe the Nazi economic policy of transferring some of the state’s monopolies to the private sector. One objective of the policy was to consolidate support for the regime amongst the business elite. There is a “rich historical irony” (Bel 2006, 193) here: the contemporary arguments made against privatisation (that it ultimately only benefits political and business elites) are similar to the arguments made in favour of privatisation in 1930s Germany.]

Published: Oct 4, 2011

Keywords: Private Sector; World Trade Organisation; Water Sector; Water Company; World City

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