Reliance on the private military industry and the privatization of public functions has left our government less able to govern effectively. When decisions that should have been taken by government officials are delegated (wholly or in part) to private contractors without appropriate oversight, the public interest is jeopardized. Books on private military have described the problem well, but they have not offered prescriptions or solutions this book does.
Outsourcing Sovereignty
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Privatizing can be useful. Excessive privatization is dangerous. With more than 100,000 private contractors currently operating in Iraq alone, the implications of Outsourcing Sovereignty, as Paul Verkuil's timely and perceptive new book warns, should be the concern of every American."
Ted Koppel, Managing Editor, Discovery Channel
"For the last generation, American government at all levels has vastly expanded privatization of public programs. In this path-breaking analysis, Verkuil reminds us a rush toward privatization for efficiency's sake can ironically threaten the conduct of a responsible democracy. Anyone who cares about the future of American government will have to confront the powerful argument that Verkuil raises in this important book."
Donald F. Kettl Director, Fels Institute of Government University of Pennsylvania
"Paul Verkuil's thoughtful and thorough account assembles key facts behind privatization of military, incarceration, policing, and domestic security, and provides the lenses of political and legal analyses to make sense of the private-contract state--the emerging 'fourth branch' of government. Anyone who cares about democracy needs to know the information and questions raised in this astute book."
Martha Minow, Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Author of Partners, Not Rivals: Privatization and the Public Good
"A path-breaking discussion, with implications for countless debates about the uses and limits of privatization. Verkuil is one of the most illuminating public law scholars in the country, and this book sheds a bright new light on the line between the private and public spheres."
Cass R. Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School
"Outsourcing Sovereignty is a penetrating and timely analysis exploring a set of issues vital to our nation's security and prosperity."
Max Stier, President and CEO, Partnership for Public Service
"Paul Verkuil's book is an important book at an important time. When the forces of the market are hailed as the best guide for efficiency and effectiveness and globalization reinforces this, it is imperative to ask what the limits of 'the market' can be and to re-asses the value of public goods and services within states....Although the book focuses on the situation in the United States, the value of the insights it provides go much further."
Sam Muller, Director of The Hague Institute for the Internationalization of Law
"Certainly anyone interested in remedying the dangers of 'outsourcing sovereignty' would do well to study closely Verkuil's extremely valuable contribution"
Philip a. Dynia, Loyola University New Orleans, Law and Politics Book Review
Ted Koppel, Managing Editor, Discovery Channel
"For the last generation, American government at all levels has vastly expanded privatization of public programs. In this path-breaking analysis, Verkuil reminds us a rush toward privatization for efficiency's sake can ironically threaten the conduct of a responsible democracy. Anyone who cares about the future of American government will have to confront the powerful argument that Verkuil raises in this important book."
Donald F. Kettl Director, Fels Institute of Government University of Pennsylvania
"Paul Verkuil's thoughtful and thorough account assembles key facts behind privatization of military, incarceration, policing, and domestic security, and provides the lenses of political and legal analyses to make sense of the private-contract state--the emerging 'fourth branch' of government. Anyone who cares about democracy needs to know the information and questions raised in this astute book."
Martha Minow, Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Author of Partners, Not Rivals: Privatization and the Public Good
"A path-breaking discussion, with implications for countless debates about the uses and limits of privatization. Verkuil is one of the most illuminating public law scholars in the country, and this book sheds a bright new light on the line between the private and public spheres."
Cass R. Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School
"Outsourcing Sovereignty is a penetrating and timely analysis exploring a set of issues vital to our nation's security and prosperity."
Max Stier, President and CEO, Partnership for Public Service
"Paul Verkuil's book is an important book at an important time. When the forces of the market are hailed as the best guide for efficiency and effectiveness and globalization reinforces this, it is imperative to ask what the limits of 'the market' can be and to re-asses the value of public goods and services within states....Although the book focuses on the situation in the United States, the value of the insights it provides go much further."
Sam Muller, Director of The Hague Institute for the Internationalization of Law
"Certainly anyone interested in remedying the dangers of 'outsourcing sovereignty' would do well to study closely Verkuil's extremely valuable contribution"
Philip a. Dynia, Loyola University New Orleans, Law and Politics Book Review
Book Description
Reliance on the private military industry and the privatization of public functions has left our government less able to govern effectively. When decisions that should have been taken by government officials are delegated (wholly or in part) to private contractors without appropriate oversight, the public interest is jeopardized. Books on private military have described the problem well, but they have not offered prescriptions or solutions this book does.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent demolition of the case for privatisation,
By
This review is from: Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do about It (Paperback)
In this fascinating book, Paul Verkuil, Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University, examines the USA's shift from public government to private governance. Outsourcing rose by 86% between 2000 and 2005 and the value of non-competitive contracts rose by 115%, mainly due to the war on Iraq.
He examines the public/private distinction, constitutional governance, the limits of delegation, contract theory, and structural reforms. He uses constitutional, statutory, administrative and contractual sources and work in delegation theory and transactions cost analysis. Under the US Constitution, the people is the sovereign power, delegating its powers to the three branches of the state, executive, legislature and judiciary, which are supposed to be agents of the people. But delegating sovereign powers to private hands undermines the state's capacity to govern. Outsourcing political decisions threatens the democratic principle of accountability. Verkuil looks at the private military, private disaster relief, private border control, private prisons and private police. He argues that the planning and execution of responses to disasters are core government duties. He notes that after 9/11, Congress voted to `deprivatise' airport security, over Bush's opposition. Private security firms had treated security as a cost-control item, forcing down the quality of services. He notes, "In Europe, the preference for public sector solutions has been trumped by a higher principle congenial both to community integration and the world of privatization." Why higher? Privatisation does not improve performance: research shows that professional civil servants manage better than political appointees, but then better performance is only the politicians' claim, not privatisation's real aim. Its real aim is to maximise profit - which Verkuil manages not to see, writing, "Outsourcing in the face of both accountability and efficiency objections is inexplicable." He concludes that the use of contractors to displace functions normally performed by government officials is a danger to democracy, and so should be curtailed. We need to secure and preserve public values and oppose the current unprecedented delegation of powers to private firms.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Succinct Indictment of Outsourcing,
By Ric Loll "Ric Loll" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do about It (Paperback)
Dr. Verkuil, who's book is subtitled Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do About It, is very interesting perspective on this evolving field of government policy. Throughout this slim (less than 200 page) volume he presents many instances where Outsourcing has gone too far into the essential tasks which should be reserved to the Federal Executive, but have slowly crept into the hands of contractors. Beginning with the Iran-Contra scandal, Verkuil traces the evolution of the private military and other contracting expansion through Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II administrations.
The chapters concentrate on specific places where practice or law has caused an erosion in governmental control; Transportation Security, Public-Private boundaries, and Contracting legal theory are just three areas of concentration. A theme running throughout the text is the concept that "The People" possess and provide the foundations upon which governance is built. He repeated returns to the idea that the nation needs to be aware of, alert to, and take action against this threat to democracy. In doing so he makes a number of very valid points; * The federal government has not grown in a thoughtful and guided manner. The establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, where contractors equal or exceed federal employees, is an example of contracting gone too far. * The use of contractors makes lines of responsibility and accountability blur or disappear. Who does a prisoner tortured by a contractor sue for war crimes reparations? * The hollowing out of the federal government, especially in senior leadership roles, has left us with a less loyal and reliable government. The ranks of the Senior Executive Services have not changed noticeably in 40 years, while our federal budget has ballooned to over 8 times its size, adjusted for inflation, during the same period. The conclusion, Wherein the Principle Instructs Her Agents, is a thoughtful incitement for action to the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government. While I may disagree with some of the vitriol now popularly slung around the A-76 (Competitive Sourcing) program, I largely agree with the conclusions of the author and commend this book to those involved in Multi-Sector Workforce Management.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating,
By Jessica (Virginia) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do about It (Paperback)
I was required to buy this book for a class- and wow, was it worth it! A great read for anyone interested in our current political state.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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public law limitations, public law values, public law norms, private delegations, agency cost theory, competitive sourcing, outsourcing problem, private military contractors, qui tam actions, nondelegation doctrine, public vulnerability, vate contractors, privatization movement, significant authority, oath requirement, private prisons, inherent functions Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Volcker Commission, Appointments Clause, Carter Coal, President Bush, New Deal, White House, Coast Guard, Subdelegation Act, Home Page, Supreme Court, Corporate Warriors, New York, Abu Ghraib, National Guard, False Claims Act, Hurricane Katrina, Legal Counsel, Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin, Iran-Contra Report, Big Military Contractors, Bush Turns, Control Borders, Open Target New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
public law limitations, public law values, public law norms, private delegations, agency cost theory, competitive sourcing, outsourcing problem, private military contractors, qui tam actions, nondelegation doctrine, public vulnerability, vate contractors, privatization movement, significant authority, oath requirement, private prisons, inherent functions Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Volcker Commission, Appointments Clause, Carter Coal, President Bush, New Deal, White House, Coast Guard, Subdelegation Act, Home Page, Supreme Court, Corporate Warriors, New York, Abu Ghraib, National Guard, False Claims Act, Hurricane Katrina, Legal Counsel, Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin, Iran-Contra Report, Big Military Contractors, Bush Turns, Control Borders, Open Target New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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