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Public-private partnerships in third world development: A conceptual overiew

  • Development Policy
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Abstract

This article discusses the promotion of public-private partnerships in third world development by agencies such as US AID, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. During the 1980s, along with the concepts of economic adjustment, privatization, and deregulation, partnerships became an important element in donor-country development thinking. Definitions of the concept are still extremely vague, however. Most of the available literature on the topic consists of promotional material and basic descriptive case studies.

We argue here that in order to understand what its role might be in the development process, and how its performance should be evaluated, a much more elaborated conceptual framework is necessary. We then suggest the components of such a model and discuss their significance.

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Authors
  1. Clyde Mitchell-Weaver
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  2. Brenda Manning
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Additional information

Clyde Mitchell-Weaver teaches public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also taught at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and during the 1990–91 academic year was a visiting Fulbright professor in the Federal Republic of Germany. Much of his third world experience has been in North Africa and the Sahel. Mitchell-Weaver has written and spoken frequently on public-private partnerships and economic development. Most recently, in October 1991, the key ideas in this article were presented in Rabat, Morocco at a conference sponsored by the Moroccan Ministry of Planning. A related article on “Urban Systems Theory and Third World Development” appeared in the Fall 1991 issue of theJournal of Urban Affairs.

Brenda Manning teaches urban studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She has also taught at Rutgers University. She has professional and consulting experience in urban planning and training. Her research interests include strategies and materials for communication to public audiences, research methods for developing countries, studies of planning organizations, and public-private partnerships.

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Mitchell-Weaver, C., Manning, B. Public-private partnerships in third world development: A conceptual overiew. St Comp Int Dev 26, 45–67 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02743762

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