The Institutional Dimension of Public-Private Partnerships: Governance

Abstract

Failure to realize governance objectives is considered to be one of the reasons why public-private partnerships have become increasingly controversial and why there have been many negative experiences during the project process. This study examines the relationship between public-private partnerships and governance. In the framework pioneered by international organizations and accepted in the literature, it is possible to eliminate many problems experienced in public-private partnership projects by implementing governance principles. On the other hand, although there are many discussions in the literature on the conceptual basis of governance, there are no studies that address these conceptual debates within the framework of public-private partnerships. It is thought that this deficiency in the literature will also leave the discussions on the present and future of the relationship between public-private partnerships and governance incomplete. The originality of this study is that it evaluates the concept of governance in public-private partnerships and its foundations based on the New Institutional Economics and New Public Management approaches. When the concept is considered together with its foundations, the question of whether governance principles can really be a solution to the problems of public-private partnerships becomes controversial. Although the focus of the study is not on this debate, it aims to open the door to further discussions on the subject.