Government by Contract: Outsourcing and American Democracy

Published by Harvard University Press 2009

Government by Contract

Outsourcing and American Democracy

Edited by: Jody Freeman and Martha Minow

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674273726

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Reviews

This book sheds new light on a critically important topic. I recommend it to every student of contracting out and privatization.
-- Paul C. Light, author of A Government Ill Executed

This book could not be more timely or important. Renowned legal scholars Jody Freeman and Martha Minow have assembled some of the best minds in law, public administration, economics, and political science to consider the pervasive trend toward outsourcing in American government. The result is not just an essential guide to a crucial development, but also a nuanced warning: For all the attractions of outsourcing, the tide of "government by contract" threatens both democratic values and shared policy goals.
-- Jacob S. Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Healthcare, and Retirement--And How You Can Fight Back

This book documents both the dramatic recent increase in outsourcing to the private sector of functions traditionally performed directly by government in the U.S. and the equally dramatic breakdowns of traditional accountability mechanisms in many contexts (political, legal, economic). It also outlines an ambitious reform agenda which everyone concerned with the public policy-making process in the 21st century must take seriously.
-- Michael Trebilcock, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: Reframing the Outsourcing Debates Jody Freeman and Martha Minow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. Recent Developments
1. Public-Private Governance: A Historical Introduction William J. Novak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2. The Transformation of Government Work: Causes, Consequences, and Distortions John D. Donahue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
3. The Federal Framework for Competing Commercial Work between the Public and Private Sectors Mathew Blum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
II. Cases and Critiques
4. Rent-a-Regulator: Design and Innovation in Environmental Decision Making Miriam Seifter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
5. Outsourcing Power: Privatizing Military Efforts and the Risks to Accountability, Professionalism, and Democracy Martha Minow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
6. How Privatization Thinks: The Case of Prisons Sharon Dolovich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
III. Responses and Reforms
7. Achieving Contracting Goals and Recognizing Public Law Concerns: A Contracting Management Perspective Steven J. Kelman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
8. Federal Contracting in Context: What Drives It, How to Improve It Stan Soloway and Alan Chvotkin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
9. Six Simple Steps to Increase Contractor Accountability Nina A. Mendelson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
10. Privatization and Democracy: Resources in Administrative Law Alfred C. Aman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
11. Private Delegations, Due Process, and the Duty to Supervise Gillian E. Metzger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
12. Outsourcing and the Duty to Govern Paul R. Verkuil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	310
13. Public Values/Private Contract Laura A. Dickinson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	513
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	515

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 552

eBook

Published: February 28, 2009
ISBN: 9780674273726