Title: Outsourcing the State: Public-Private Partnerships and Information Technologies in India ?
Authors: Renee Kuriyan, Isha Ray
Pages: 11 pp.
ISSN: 0305-750X
Source: World Development, Volume 37, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 1663-1673
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Date (published): 17/06/2009
Date (accessed): 12/11/2009
Type of information: research article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
This paper examines public–private partnerships (PPPs) for development through the example of telecenters in two Indian states. How might a developmental state position itself with respect to civil society under a PPP model of service delivery? We find that each state’s political economy is reflected in its PPP strategy, but that in both states the emerging middle classes rather than the poor benefit most from ongoing telecenter projects. Outsourcing development services to private entities need not ‘‘privatize” the state but does alter the way in which citizens ‘‘see” the state. Service delivery through telecenters becomes a symbol of government efficiency and responsiveness.