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Coming to Terms With the Public-Private Partnership

A Grammar of Multiple Meanings

Bibliographic Data

ID3759451
AuthorsStephen H Linder (0000-0003-1316-4496, University of Texas, Houston, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume43
Issue1
Pages35-51
Publication date1999-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027649921955146
OpenAlexW1995182861
LanguageEN
Citations received74
References cited12

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

Deconstruction (building) · General partnership · Ideology · Limited partnership · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Public relations · Scrutiny · Sociology · Symbol (formal) · Engineering · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Public-Private Partnership Projects · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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Unique citing works74
Citations per year2,96
Citation span2001 - 2025 (25)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 66
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