Privatization: Theory and Lessons from the UK and South Africa

Abstract

Privatization has involved the restructuring of capital across its many dimensions. Neo-liberalism might present itself as the withdrawal of the state in favour of the market, but it is more appropriate to view such developments in the current period of capitalism as incorporating state economic intervention rather than as its negation.

In this paper I will draw two central conclusions from the experience of UK and South Africa, First, given the multiplicity of factors in any privatization, it is erroneous to seek a general theory or explanation. Each sector of the economy in terms of its finance, markets, international position, technological prospects, political context, etc. is very different from another. Second, by the same token, at a systemic level, the role played by privatization will be very different from one country to another depending upon the particular structure and dynamic of the economy irrespective of any tendencies towards "globalization".