A Brief Intellectual History of the Public-Private Partnership Movement

This chapter explores the intellectual history of the public-private partnership (PPP) movement, both before and after it became a widely used acronym. It demonstrates that the intellectual provenance of PPPs is very varied, with major contributions from across the social sciences. This has contributed to the richness of our understanding of PPPs, but has also made it difficult for critical comment to develop a constructive perspective from which to evaluate PPPs and suggest options for their change.