Economic Theory - General & Miscellaneous, Globalization, Macroeconomics - General & Miscellaneous, General & Miscellaneous - Politics & Government, Welfare - Service & Policies, Privatization

Public Services or Corporate Welfare

Name: Public Services or Corporate Welfare
Author: Dexter Whitfield
ISBN: 9780745308562

by Dexter Whitfield

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Overview

Examining the role of the modern nation state, Dexter Whitfield assesses the achievements, failures, costs and benefits of the neoliberal transformation of the state. He demonstrates that private finance of infrastructure, marketization of government and privatization of the welfare state are accelerating the globalization process and generating ever-larger financial, social and environmental crises. Whitfield analyses current trends which are exacerbated by the marketization and partnership agenda advocated by global bodies such as the World Bank, IMF and WTO. He reveals how these policies further reduce the capacity of the state in the global economy, its ability to provide good quality public services and inevitably create a corporate welfare complex. Within a framework for understanding the extent, scale and impact of the transformation of the state, the author forecasts the implications of the continuation of current policies.

Whitfield proposes a reconfiguration of the state-capital-labor-civic society paradigm by engineering a shift in power relations, increasing democratic state institutional capacity and control of capital and markets with a new global financial and political architecture. He recommends a new public service management to strengthen the core competence of the state and promote innovation and continuous improvement.

About the Author, Dexter Whitfield

Dexter Whitfield founded the Centre for Public Services which has worked for nearly 30 years with public bodies, trade unions and community organisations developing strategies to improve public services and the welfare state. He has advised public bodies and trade unions in countries around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and the US. He is the author of The Welfare State (Pluto Press).