Privitization of Government: Case Studies (2) (UCI 235)

Recent emphasis on privitization of important governmental services and functions raises important questions about the purposes of deregulation, contracting out services, and utilization of market mechanisms in aid of or in place of traditional forms of public governenace, among other forms of privitization.  Important questions concern the nature of public and private governance, their core values and their ability to serve the needs of a democratic society. Further, it is the thesis of this seminar that while the forms of governmental privitization may have changed over time, pubic and private governance are necessarily closely related and historically intertwined.  This seminar will explore these issues and others through contemporary and historical case studies of privitization such as welfare privitization, emissions trading, airline deregulation, school vouchers, and the rise of public  benefit corporations.  Readings will be provided.  Students will be assigned to take the lead in disucssions each week.  Students will be required to complete a case study of privitization and to write a term paper.