Coming to Terms With the Public-Private Partnership

This essay critically examines the multiple meanings that the term, public-private (P-P) partnership, assumes in contemporary discussions. A brief deconstruction of this term not only clarifies these meanings, but also exposes to scrutiny their underlying premises and ideological commitments. Six distinct uses of the term are identified and linked to their respective meanings in neoconservative and neoliberal ideologies. Instead of focusing on partnership's conceptual definition, the term's strategic uses by political actors are attended to, consistent with the author's interest in partnership as a political symbol and policy tool. Accordingly, the claims of these actors about partnerships receive primary attention here. Their actual partnership practices and the distributional effects that partnering has on power and resources are left for others to consider.