Contemporary public–private partnership: Towards a global research agenda

Abstract

This paper reviews the research agenda lineage on public–private partnerships (PPPs) from Broadbent and Laughlin's seminal piece in 1999. The PPP phenomenon is viewed at five levels: project delivery, organisational form, policy, governance tool and as a phenomenon within a broader historical and cultural context. We argue that whilst a variety of research issues will continue to be relevant, five corresponding areas deserve future visibility for a renewed research agenda: (1) Financialisation of PPPs, (2) global PPP market actors, (3) internationalisation of policy on PPPs, (4) long-term complex contracts as a governing regime and (5) PPPs in BRICS and developing countries.