During the last about twenty years, public-private partnerships (PPPs) gained more and more attention at the global scale. Once a particular financial scheme which helped funding infrastructure development while putting public debt outside of the financial statements, nowadays PPPs provide a fundamental template for the coordination of intellectual, organizational, and financial resources for the delivery of public services and the implementation of public programs. Research on PPPs has focused on various aspects from the design of PPP contracts, to the identification of critical success factors, and to the determinants of PPP performance. Yet, the political nature of PPPs has not been fully appreciated. Because of the intertwining of public and private interests, the design and management of PPP projects are exposed to various sources of influence from stakeholders. Within such scenario, policy-makers, public managers and professionals need to be sensitive to features of the political and institutional context where PPPs are implemented. This book aims to provide the readers with an analytical framework for explaining the role of politics in the design and management of PPPs. Drawing from various case studies - especially including those based in countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where currently PPPs are on the rise - this book will offer to students, academics, policy-makers and practitioners a guide to design and manage PPP projects while being attentive to the influences that originate from the political and institutional context.
