The Forces Influences Privatization
The word govern comes from a Greek root "kybern", which means to "steer" (The same root appears incybernetics, the science of control.) The job of government is to steer, not to row. Delivering services - whetherrepairing streets or operating an airline - is rowing, and government is nor very good at this task. Privatization is apragmatic policy for restoring government to its fundamental role, steering, while relying on the private sector todo the rowing.Privatization can be defined broadly as relying more on the private institutions of society and less on governmentto satisfy people's needs. It is the act of reducing the role of government or increasing the role of the otherinstitutions of society in producing goods and services and in owning property. In general, both the public andprivate sectors play important roles, and it is increasingly common to refer to "public-private partnerships", a lesscontentious term than "privatization". A public-private partnership is defined as any arrangement between agovernment and the private sector in which partially or traditionally public activities are performed by the privatesector.The distinction between public and private is elusive. We speak of a park or government office building asbeing publicly owned, but we use the same term to describe Microsoft because it has many stockholders and anymember of the public may buy part of the company; it is a private firm that is publicly owned. In the same way, apublic restaurant is one that caters to the public at large, although it may be owned by a sole proprietor. Confusingly,we use the same word, public, to describe three very different conditions: government ownership, widespreadownership, and open access. Their semantic confusion is nevertheless instructive, for it implies that governmentownership - and by extension, government action - is not necessary to achieve widespread (i.e., "public") benefits.Privatization capitalises on this underappreciated truism and takes advantage of the full array of ownership andoperating ...
