Government by contract : outsourcing and American democracy / edited by Jody Freeman, Martha Minow.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Minow, Martha, 1954- editor.

Freeman, Jody, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Privatization--United States.

Privatization.

Contracting out--United States.

Contracting out.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (541 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, [2009]

Summary:

The dramatic growth of government over the course of the twentieth century since the New Deal prompts concern among libertarians and conservatives and also among those who worry about government’s costs, efficiency, and quality of service. These concerns, combined with rising confidence in private markets, motivate the widespread shift of federal and state government work to private organizations. This shift typically alters only who performs the work, not who pays or is ultimately responsible for it. “Government by contract” now includes military intelligence, environmental monitoring, prison management, and interrogation of terrorism suspects. Outsourcing government work raises questions of accountability. What role should costs, quality, and democratic oversight play in contracting out government work? What tools do citizens and consumers need to evaluate the effectiveness of government contracts? How can the work be structured for optimal performance as well as compliance with public values? Government by Contract explains the phenomenon and scope of government outsourcing and sets an agenda for future research attentive to workforce capacities as well as legal, economic, and political concerns.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Reframing the Outsourcing Debates

I. Recent Developments

1. Public-Private Governance: A Historical Introduction

2. The Transformation of Government Work: Causes, Consequences, and Distortions

3. The Federal Framework for Competing Commercial Work between the Public and Private Sectors

II. Cases and Critiques

4. Rent-a-Regulator: Design and Innovation in Environmental Decision Making

5. Outsourcing Power: Privatizing Military Efforts and the Risks to Accountability, Professionalism, and Democracy

6. How Privatization Thinks: The Case of Prisons

III. Responses and Reforms

7. Achieving Contracting Goals and Recognizing Public Law Concerns: A Contracting Management Perspective

8. Federal Contracting in Context: What Drives It, How to Improve It

9. Six Simple Steps to Increase Contractor Accountability

10. Privatization and Democracy: Resources in Administrative Law

11. Private Delegations, Due Process, and the Duty to Supervise

12. Outsourcing and the Duty to Govern

13. Public Values/Private Contract

Notes

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [363]-512) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674273726

0674273729

OCLC:

1282593837