This volume explores the influence of professional service firms on public policy-making from a global perspective. Drawing on cases studies from around the world, researchers from different disciplinesincluding sociology, political science, geography, anthropology, history, and management studiesexamine how professional service firms have generated power in the policy-making process. The chapters further investigate the structure and organization of these firms and their relationship with public agencies. They discuss the impact of strategies, techniques and models promoted by these firms on political decision-making. And they analyze how these firms have contributed to the formation of global policy-pipelines, facilitating the quick diffusion of policy ideas across time and space. Exposing how professional advisors can undermine democratic decision-making, the chapters in this book explore the potential for resistance and regulation of public-private relationships.
1. Introduction: The rise of professional service firms as public policy actors
Chris Hurl (Concordia University, Canada) and Anne Vogelpohl (Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany)
Section One: Strategies and practices of professional service firms
2. America First: How consultants got into the public sector
Matthias Kipping (York University, Canada)
3. Taming uncertainty: Climate policymaking and the spatial politics of privatized advice
Svenja Keele (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Section Two: Advising cities4. Who drives Indias smart cities? Understanding the role of consulting firms in the Smart Cities Mission
Uttara Purandare (IIT Bombay-Monash University Research Academy)
5. Boutique consultancy and personal trust: Advising on cities in Moscow
Daria Volkova (Higher School of Economics, Moscow)
6. Everywhere from Copenhagen: Method, storytelling, and comparison in the globalization of public space design
Eugene McCann (Simon Fraser University) and Lise Mahieus (Simon Fraser University)
Section Three: Finance and financialization
7. International consultancy firms and African states: New Debt Bonds
Janet Roitman (New School for Social Research, USA)
8. The DNA of Government: Professional Service Firms, calculative technologies and the politics of municipal benchmarking
Chris Hurl (Concordia University)
9. Connecting local government with global finance: Professional service firms as agents of financialization
Sebastian Möller (University of Bremen, Germany)
Section Four: Privatization and public private partnerships
10. Infrastructure and the Big 4: Public-private partnerships, corridors, and the expansion of capital
Nick Hildyard (Corner House, UK)
11. The corporate takeover of public policy: The case of public private partnerships in Britain
Jean Shaoul (University of Manchester, UK)
12. Camouflaged privatization: The influence of the Fratzscher Commission and PricewaterhouseCoopers on Berlins schools
Laura Valentukeviciute (Gemeingut in Bürger*innenhand, Germany)
Section Five: Professional service firms and administration: Entrenching private expertise
13. Hegemonic privatization and its discontents: Reflections on the statecraft of contract-based local governance in England
Mike Raco (University College London, UK)
14. Expert advice? Assessing the role of the state in promoting privatized planning
Neha Sami (Indian Institute for Human Settlements) and Shriya Anand (Indian Institute for Human Settlements)
Section Six: Regulating relationships
15. Conflicting interests: Professional planning practice in publicly-traded firms
Orly Linovski (University of Manitoba)
16. The governance of management consultancy use: Practices, problems and possibilities
Andrew Sturdy (University of Bristol, UK)
