Across the world the prevailing narrative has become one of Good Governance, devolution, liberation, and freedom of expression. In policy fields as diverse as development planning, healthcare, and public transport a neo-pluralist rhetoric has emerged based on the principles of 'co-production' and partnership working. And yet at the same time a curious paradox is emerging. Whilst the prevailing zeitgeist is one of openness and citizen empowerment, this book will show that in reality new modes of governance are emerging in which state controls have actually been expanded into many spheres of life that were previously left unregulated.

Mike Raco is Professor of Urban Governance and Development at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, UK.

Chapter 1 State-led Privatisation, the Restructuring of the State, and the New Localism; Chapter 2 Privatisation, Welfare Reform, and the Politics of the New Progressivism; Chapter 3 Regulatory Capitalism, Privatisation, and the New Contractualism in the Welfare State; Chapter 4 The Private Finance Initiative and the Privatisation of the British Welfare State; Chapter 5 The Consequences of Privatisation and the Rise of New Private Sector Elites; Chapter 6 The Privatisation of Healthcare and the New Localism; Chapter 7 The Privatisation of Social Housing and the Re-making of Citizenship; Chapter 8 Transport Infrastructure and the Impacts of Privatisation; Chapter 9 What is Left to the State?;