Global public-private partnerships : different perspectives

Abstract

Global public-private partnerships are part of the global governance framework and influence our daily lives - yet our understanding of them is incomplete. Research has attributed the existence of these partnerships between state, market and civil society actors variously to the influence of leaders, new management ideas, resource deficits and the proliferation of issues beyond the ability of any single sector to manage. Yet explorations of these themes primarily focuses on the United Nations core agencies, and overlooks the technical international government organizations; organizations which facilitate a multitude of transactions in various policy areas between nation-states, their agencies and administrations. Personal experience with such an organization - Interpol - indicated the answer to the puzzle was incomplete. Therefore, this study was undertaken to further explore the question of why international government organizations participate in global public-private partnerships. Using case studies, this research set out to discover a better explanation for the phenomena of global public-private partnerships. Research was conducted with the International Telecommunication Union, the International Criminal Police Organization and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. Between them, they represented a diverse section of international policy fields - communication; police cooperation and cultural conservation. This research found that beyond the themes in the literature, global public-private partnerships are shaped by the dominant professional culture of an international government organization, and the organizational culture also uniquely inherent in each. The use of theories of professional and organizational culture has therefore filled a gap in our knowledge about this global phenomenon. Furthermore, these cultural factors also influence how the other factors are perceived and then acted upon. The end results are partnerships that comfortably fit with the beliefs, values, norms and assumptions common the respective professional and organizational culture.