Reorienting Development

State-owned Enterprises in Latin America and the World

Reorienting Development analyses what the nature, advantages, limitations and challenges of public companies are. It also offers new theoretical and conceptual insights on the nature and roles of the state and the controversial meanings of development.

The growing evidence of the failure of privatisation as prescribed by the Washington Consensus has prompted a reconsideration of state ownership and management in Latin America. In parallel, in other regions of the world, the economic and financial crisis has spurred a resurgence of analytical perspectives that challenge the hegemony of the free market paradigm. At both the academic and political levels, very intense debates have re-emerged on the significance of state-owned enterprises in national and regional development strategies.

This book is based on contributions from several researchers and policy makers that belong to the International Research Network on Public Enterprises and Development, following an international conference held in Montevideo in November 2012, jointly organised by Uruguay’s National Directorate for Industrial Development (MIEM-DNI) and the state-owned telecommunications company (ANTEL) in association with the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI). The chapters of this book analyse the nature, advantages, limitations and challenges of public companies, framing the discussion vis-à-vis ongoing political processes and contributing new theoretical and conceptual insights on the nature and roles of the state and the controversial meanings of development.

Editors
Daniel Chavez

Sebastián Torres