Graeme Hodge

Monash University (Australia) · Faculty of Law

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is the label often applied to long-term contractual arrangements when the private sector provides management and operating services for public infrastructure and puts private finance at risk. Political and economic logics have long been applied when analysing the success of such infrastructure delivery mechanisms. M...

Once regarded as core public sector business, Australia’s prisons were reformed during the 1990s and Australia now has the highest proportion of prisoners in privately managed prisons in the world. How could this have happened? This article presents a case study of the State of Victoria and explains how public–private partnerships (P3s) were used t...

Much attention has gone towards ‘up-front’ processes when delivering infrastructure public–private partnerships (PPPs), but less on how to best govern after the ribbon is cut and the infrastructure built. This paper identifies the primary contractual and institutional governance challenges arising in the medium to long term of PPP concession contra...

Infrastructure PPPs are now main-stream. Both partnership language and its contractual forms have evolved over the past few decades, though. Compared to early optimistic promises, we now have a more nuanced and balanced view of what PPPs are and what they can achieve. Indeed, modern PPPs are tied more to seeking economic growth and political succes...

The dramatic plunge in oil prices since the second half of 2014 poses serious challenges for the oil dependent states of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and revives their interest in accelerating the implementation of market-based reforms such as outsourcing, privatization, and public–private partnerships. This article challenges the assumption th...

This article examines the prospect of using infrastructure public-private partnerships (PPPs) within Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar in light of the drastic drop in oil prices since mid-2014. It argues that, while PPPs appear to be a strategic policy option for the three Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to tackle growing fiscal deficits, these...

Private finance-based infrastructure public–private partnerships (P3s) are globally popular, including renewed interest in the United States, but their performance remains contested. This article explores the meaning of P3 and the notion of P3 success, and points to multiple interpretations of both. It proposes a new conceptual model of the P3 phen...

This article evaluates the operational efficiency of the Victorian prison system since the introduction of the neoliberal prison privatisation policy in 1992 through to the period of the next Government (from 1999), ending in 2010. The analysis explores the origin of the Victorian prison system’s reform, before focussing on an evaluation of the pri...

Nanotechnology has engendered much debate. This article asks how we can best approach nanotechnology regulation and aims to separate out the risk rhetoric from the regulatory realities. It argues that any discussion of nanotechnology regulation requires us to traverse three fundamentally distinct languages: the language of ‘nanotechnology’ as a pub...

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have now become a popular way of providing infrastructure. A commercial relationship between government and business is not necessarily a new phenomenon, but wholesale use by governments of long term, sophisticated contract techniques on private credit is. Better efficiency in infrastructure provision and strength...

Today, “innovation” is increasingly seen as a primary dimension of improving public sector performance. “Performance auditing” is, in turn, a widespread activity that seeks to enhance the performance of public sector organisations. This article examines intersections between the performance auditing process and public sector innovation. After prese...

The tools of integrity institutions, including performance auditing (PA), are attracting growing research interest. Amidst this interest, there is ongoing debate about the definition of PA. This article adopts a new definitional framework to characterise and investigate the PA space, which is the conceptual space in which PA takes place. The articl...

One of the most significant European higher education reform initiatives of the last decade is the introduction of a European Qualification Framework (EQF) emphasising Learning Outcomes (LOs) in higher education. The EQF is offered as a reform to contribute to increased transparency and mobility, and also implies a certain degree of standardization...

Transportation financing public-private partnerships (P3s) are a common practice in many countries. However, they represent a relatively new approach to transportation infrastructure financing for state and local governments in the United States. In a transportation financing P3 project, a private sector partner designs-builds-finances-operates-mai...

Harmonisation is both a substantive policy reform and a political project. Using the lens of Pollitt and Hupe’s ‘magic concepts of government’ and the harmonisation of Australia’s occupational health and safety laws as a case study, this article argues that as a political project, harmonisation has a magical rhetorical quality that obscures traditi...

As complex new materials such as nanoparticles increasingly make their way into commercial products, regulatory frameworks need to overcome a number of key challenges to remain fit for purpose.

Accepting that there is much confusion in current debates about the use of public-private partnerships for public infrastructure projects, the article begins by considering the emergence of the ‘PPP phenomenon’ as a ‘governance scheme’ and as a ‘language game’. The existence of several types of so-called PPPs, and motives for them, is noted, as are...

Nanotechnologies have clearly begun to make their way out of the laboratories and into today's commercial life. While they promise significant benefits to society, their very development and commercialisation appear to be challenging state-based regulatory regimes. With many governments currently appearing to be taking a non-interventionist approac...

'"Partnership" is a widely-used and confusing term in public management. This book pilots the reader expertly through the diverse ambitions for PPPs, and the contexts in which they have been used. It draws on the first-hand experience of politicians and managers in steering partnerships, combined with solid research and observation. A particular st...

'The Handbook's 26 chapters do a remarkable job of capturing the last decade of commentary and policy perspective regarding nano-related environmental health and safety regulatory issues, along with providing some fresh perspectives on where its future might be headed. It is an invaluable primer for those wanting to hear about the issue from some o...

This article examines the rise of nanotechnology-specific codes of conduct (nano-codes) as a private governance mechanism to manage potential risks and promote the technology. It examines their effectiveness as well as their legitimacy as regulatory instruments in the public domain. The study first maps the rise of voluntary nano-codes and the role...

"This paper argues that evaluations of public-private partnerships thus far point to contradictory results regarding their effectiveness and value-for-money. Despite continuing political popularity, greater care is needed to strengthen future evaluations and conduct such assessments away from the policy cheerleaders." Copyright (c) 2009 The Authors...

This article examines nanotechnology within the context of the public interest. It notes that though nanotechnology research and development investment totalled US$9.6 billion in 2005, the public presently understands neither the implications nor how it might be best governed. The article maps a range of nanotechnology dialogue activities under way...

Popular culture can play a significant role in shaping the acceptance of evolving technologies, with nanotechnology likely to be a case in point. The most popular fiction work to date in this arena has been Michael Crichton's techno-thriller Prey, which fuses together nanotechnology science with science fiction. Within the context of Prey, this art...

Australian state and federal governments have historically been at the forefront of developing innovative international policy and regulatory solutions to emerging technologies. Assisted reproductive technologies and genetically modified organisms are two prominent examples here. The question of how best to regulate new technologies is thus not in...

There is little doubt that the development and commercialisation of nanotechnologies is challenging traditional state-based regulatory regimes. Yet governments currently appear to be taking a non-interventionist approach to directly regulating this emerging technology. This paper argues that a large regulatory toolbox is available for governing thi...

The increasing commercialisation of products containing nanomaterials has been accompanied by growing societal concerns. These concerns have underpinned a debate over the degree to which governments should specifically 鈥榞overn鈥�or regulate nanotechnology. This paper examines the way in which the private sector is developing innovative regulatory ar...

The performance framework adopted for this review includes five dimensions — economic, social, democratic, legal and political issues. This article presents summary findings from a statistical (meta-analytic) review of the performance measurements found in the available international literature on privatisation and contracting-out government servic...

Public private partnerships ('PPPs') are an increasingly popular phenomenon and a global trend. But they are also a paradox, in that they are vaguely defined, hotly disputed and poorly evaluated. They are, in essence, poorly understood by citizens as well as researchers. Hodge and Greve argue that there are multiple literatures on PPPs from which a...

As well as better efficiency and improved services, privatization has also often promised improved accountability. But how does the empirical evidence on this look and what are the lessons here? This article looks at the notion of accountability and the degree to which privatizing public sector activities might improve or worsen such mechanisms. It...

This article discusses the phenomena of nanotechnology, and notes that despite high investment levels for global research and development, the public presently understands neither the implications of this emerging technology nor how it might be best governed. It considers the notion of the public interest and its place in the public policy cycle, a...

Public–private partnerships are enjoying a global resurgence in popularity, but there is still much confusion around notions of partnership, what can be learned from our history with partnerships, and what is new about the partnership forms that are in vogue today. Looking at one particular family of public–private partnerships, the long-term infra...

This article examines nanotechnology within the context of the public interest. It notes that though nanotechnology research and development investment totalled US$9.6 billion in 2005, the public presently understands neither the implications nor how it might be best governed. The article maps a range of nanotechnology dialogue activities under way...

'This is an insightful collection by leading thinkers in both regulation and nanotechnology. It confronts new technological challenges with fresh regulatory insight.' - John Braithwaite, Australian National University. © Graeme Hodge, Diana Bowman and Karinne Ludlow 2007. All rights reserved.

This paper examines the phenomena of nanotechnology and takes some tentative steps towards defining new regulatory frontiers within which this technology may operate. While nanotechnology has attracted much attention with respect to its scientific and business potential, debate on associated ethical, policy, regulatory and legal aspects has been li...

'One of the first collections of empirical studies on the international experience with public-private partnerships (PPPs), The Challenge of Public-Private Partnerships raises several crucial issues that challenge the effectiveness of PPPs. It does a good job of organizing scattered research on a complicated topic, examining partnerships in histori...

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are now a common strand of third way government policy, with better efficiency promised from the private funding of public infrastructure through the transfer of risks to private parties. This paper aims to investigate, on an empirical basis, the realities of risk transfers in PPPs and compare this experience agai...

This paper aims to articulate aspects of the Private Sector Development Strategies of two key Development Banks in order to reflect on commonalities and differences. The paper reviews these strategies and focuses on what is included and what is omitted, as well as commenting on the characteristics of these strategies as corporate direction setting....

This paper aims to articulate aspects of the Private Sector Development Strategies of two key Development Banks in order to reflect on commonalities and differences. The paper reviews these strategies and focuses on what is included and what is omitted, as well as commenting on the characteristics of these strategies as corporate direction setting....

Are contracting reforms simply another management fad, with all the attendant rhetoric, or part of a more fundamental change delivering real results? This article concludes that contracting is an important reform with some critical benefits. As with any reform, however, we should recognize that as well as real potential financial gains, such reform...

Today's municipal managers are required to be both successful business managers and technical specialists. This paper outlines a course unit aiming to broaden the knowledge, skills and attitudes of engineers in local government. It discusses the techniques used to achieve success in the post-graduate diploma and MBA (Technology Management) distance...

Realistic predictions of the likely safety performance of advanced transport systems will need to draw on the knowledge accumulated from a large number of safety evaluations which have already been undertaken for existing transport systems. In particular, safety evaluations of future technologies must avoid the methodological pitfalls experienced i...

Part I of this paper has argued that any meaningful evaluation of transport system safety must include a consideration of the exposure to accidents, and has demonstrated the use and limitations of several measures of exposure at intersections and along links of the network. To complement this treatment of site exposure, this part of the paper will...

This paper argues that evaluations of public–private partnerships thus far point to contradictory results regarding their effectiveness and value-for-money. Despite continuing political popularity, greater care is needed to strengthen future evaluations and conduct such assessments away from the policy cheerleaders.

One of the paradoxes of the past few decades has been the continuity and even growth of infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) despite the loud voices of critics and harsh judgments of some academics. Indeed, there is little doubt about the success of PPPs judging on the basis of increasing global interest, the frequency of use in countr...

Whilst there is much air time and media coverage of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the commentary tends to be polarised and limited to either advocacy or criticism. This paper aims to outline the major dimensions of today's PPP research terrain, examine those priority threads running through present concerns and identify some crucial areas nee...

The importance of regulation has risen over the past 40 years. It has been central to economic growth as well as an important part of social progress. Whilst governments have progressively tended to become less involved in direct service provision, regulation has become an expanding part of their work and a policy preference. Governments are increa...