Abstract
A growing literature demonstrates increasing remunicipalization of local public services. Yet, while this literature is becoming extensive, many debates still exist about remunicipalization’s causes. This article reports the findings of a meta-analysis of the remunicipalization literature, focusing on the question: how do country, sector and method effects affect the findings of remunicipalization studies? I include articles on remunicipalization under different terms (‘remunicipalization’, ‘reverse privatization’, ‘insourcing’ and ‘contracting in’), using a large range of methods (case studies, surveys and document analysis) and covering a large period (1995–2019). I find 30 causes of remunicipalization that are considered and found in the literature. Political and pragmatic factors appear to be most frequently considered and found as causes of remunicipalization in the literature; environmental factors are less often considered but seem highly relevant. Moreover, I uncover large differences between the qualitative and quantitative literatures. I offer a research agenda to allow greater future synthesis in the remunicipalization literature.Points for practitionersThe literature on remunicipalization is highly fragmented and remunicipalization can have many different causes. Remunicipalization appears to be both a political and a pragmatic trend, but the literature is still too fragmented to know for sure. Be aware of the potential biases and limitations in current research on (causes of) remunicipalization.
Highlights
IntroductionRemunicipalization and the state of the literatureRemunicipalization refers to the return of previously privatized (or contracted-out) services to municipal authorities
Remunicipalization and the state of the literatureRemunicipalization refers to the return of previously privatized services to municipal authorities
Ambiguity about what the term ‘remunicipalization’ means is one reason why the literature on remunicipalization remains fragmented. Another reason is that remunicipalization has been studied in many different ways, in many different places and for many different policy sectors: both qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted to establish causes of remunicipalization; remunicipalization has been studied in many countries, including increasingly in the Global South; and remunicipalization has been studied in multiple policy sectors, such as the water, energy and transport sectors
Summary
Remunicipalization and the state of the literatureRemunicipalization refers to the return of previously privatized (or contracted-out) services to municipal authorities. Ambiguity about what the term ‘remunicipalization’ means is one reason why the literature on remunicipalization remains fragmented. Another reason is that remunicipalization has been studied in many different ways, in many different places and for many different policy sectors: both qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted to establish causes of remunicipalization; remunicipalization has been studied in many countries, including increasingly in the Global South; and remunicipalization has been studied in multiple policy sectors, such as the water, energy and transport sectors. Causes of remunicipalization are studied using a range of terminologies (‘remunicipalization’, ‘reverse privatization’ and ‘insourcing’), leading to multiple strands of literature that do not frequently intercite. It is unsurprising that given this large number of contexts and terminologies of studies into the causes of remunicipalization, the literature remains fragmented
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