'This is an important and thought provoking book for the understanding of privatisation. The author perceptively identifies contradictions that emerge from the process and outcome of privatisation, and attempts to explain these through a comparative analysis of telecommunications reform in three Central American countries. The result is a carefully researched book that provides new insights into the politics of privatisation. It will be compelling reading for the student and practitioner alike.' - Paul Cook, University of Manchester, UK This book provides a comparative study of the telecommunication reform process in three Central American countries - Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras - focusing on the roles of the local private sector and international financial institutions.

This text explores how the dynamics of globalization and privatization have influenced State policy and impacted education reform in Honduras. It makes the argument that understanding education reform in post-colonial contexts requires that scholars go beyond a surface-level description of such trends as privatization to consider, in addition, the ways that the logics, practices, and relationships that characterized colonialism continue to be embedded in the apparatus of modern States. The first part of the volume documents historical trends and the evolution of privatisation in Honduras, while the second part explicitly engages in an extended discussion of State theory, before shifting to present a framework for depicting how these logics are the foundational layer upon which states and global governance have been constructed. The framework draws upon scholarship from political economy, world systems, and post-colonialism to depict the "ethos of privatization" at the core of post-colonial States, wherein what drives the system is private benefit, in the interest of individuals and their networks, but not in the interest of those outside the State. Applying this unique framework to the case of Honduras and offering empirical analysis of the Honduran education sector, the changing role and priorities of the State, and the increasing involvement of international organizations, NGOs, and private actors in the provision of education, the text increases understanding of how State theory interacts with broader global dynamics to impact education. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with a focus on international and comparative education, policy analysis, globalization, and international development.

How do we provide effective public services in a deeply neoliberal world? In the wake of the widespread failure of privatisation efforts, societies in the global south are increasingly seeking progressive ways of recreating the public sector. With contributors ranging from cutting-edge scholars to activists working in health, water, and energy provision, and with case studies covering a broad spectrum of localities and actors, Making Public in a Privatized World uncovers the radically different ways in which public services are being reshaped from the grassroots up. From communities holding the state accountable for public health in rural Guatemala, to waste pickers in India and decentralized solar electricity initiatives in Africa, the essays in this collection offer probing insights into the complex ways in which people are building genuine alternatives to privatization, while also illustrating the challenges which communities face in creating public services which are not subordinated to the logic of the market, or to the monolithic state entities of the past.

An independent evaluation of the World Bank's extensive support to developing countries on trade issues between 1987 and 2004. The study assesses the development effectiveness of World Bank trade-related advocacy, capacity-building, lending and research. It examines the extent to which the Bank's policies and assistance have met its stated objectives in the area of trade and makes recommendations to strengthen the effectiveness of future Bank trade assistance.

In this brilliantly researched expos 'communications Rottweiler' Sharon Beder blasts open the backrooms and boardrooms to reveal how the international corporate elite dictate global politics for their own benefit. Beder shows how they created business associations andthink tanks in the 1970s to drive public policy, forced the worldwide privatization and deregulation of public services in the 1980s and 1990s (enabling a massive transfer of ownership and control over essential services) and, still not satisfied, have worked relentlessly since the late 1990s to rewrite the very rules of the global economy to funnel wealth and power into their pockets. Want a globalized and homogenized world of conflict, poverty and massive environmental degradation run by a corporate oligarchy that wipes its feet on democracy? Or a democratic world, where poverty is history, companies work for people and clean water is a right, not a privilege you pay for? Beder‘s message is clear - it‘s your world, and it‘s time to fight for it.