A brief intellectual history of PPPs

What is it about?

This chapter explores the intellectual history of the PPP movement. It demonstrates that the intellectual provenance of PPPs is very varied, with major contributions from across the social sciences. This has contributed to the richness of our understanding of PPPs but it has also made it difficult for critical comment to develop a constructive perspective from which to evaluate PPPs and suggest options for their change. In consequence, while there has been considerable criticism of specific manifestations of PPPs (like PFI), there is still considerable interest in and optimism about the potential of PPPs in general.

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Why is it important?

We are currently in an apparently ‘rich’ intellectual period where almost all the social science perspectives which we have chronicled in this chapter are currently making vibrant and, it would seem, potentially valuable contributions to the debate on the nature, role, impact and future of PPPs. These single-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary understandings of PPPs do not simply co-exist but actively jostle and co-evolve with each other. However, this may be a temporary phenomenon. It smacks of explanatory breakdown – since none of the perspectives is particularly convincing, all can find a place in the intellectual marketplace. Rather than ‘richness’, however, this may simply signal theoretical ineffectiveness.

Perspectives