Partial Privatization and Public Services Accountability: Evidence from Italy and Norway

Abstract

Privatization processes have characterized and changed the public sector in many European countries. However, often they ended up with partial privatizations. In these cases, public service providers, organized in the form of joint stock companies, are still owned by the State. Different theoretical perspectives – New Public Management (NPM), New Public Service (NPS), and New Public Governance (NPG) – are used to discuss this issue highlighting open questions on corruption, unethical behaviours and lack of accountability. Through a cross-country case study analysis, the main features of the Italian and the Norwegian privatization processes are shown. The findings call attention to the stop and go characteristic of the Italian process and the reluctance of the Norwegian government to privatize. Both countries have Ministries which are still the major owners of companies providing public services. Furthermore, although Ministerial governance has different development in Italy and Norway, common patterns exist when coming to ethical and accountability concerns. Networked modes of governance and accountability seem to be reasonable alternatives to the lacks generated by partial privatization processes.