The Political Economy of Privatization for the American Military
Abstract
The concept of privatization has become a catchword for modernization and efficiency in the American military, but the Department of Defense (DoD) is certainly not at the cutting edge of the privatization movement. It is in fact at the tail end of the world's march to privatization; somewhere in the parade ahead of Fidel Castro but, ironically, well behind the formerly Leninist leaders of the Russian Federation. This situation is not inherently bad: there are major differences between the needs of military and civilian societies that often make brilliantly sensible policies for the private sector inapplicable to the armed forces. Nevertheless, the current debate on privatization in the DoD needs to be analyzed in the context of the global movement away from socialism and through the prism of American military culture to be truly understood. As used in the current lexicon of the American military, privatization is an all-encompassing word for moving responsibility for functions and processes from the public sector to the private sector. It encompasses both the narrower form of privatization, "outsourcing" (now termed "competitive sourcing") and "absolute privatization." For clarity of communication, I will adopt the definitions of outsourcing and privatization as set forth by the Defense Science Board. The Board defines outsourcing as the "transfer of a support function traditionally performed by an in-house organization to an outside service provider, with the government continuing to provide appropriate oversight."' The Board defines privatization as "involving not only the contracting out of support functions, but also the transfer of facilities, equipment and other government assets to the private vendor."2
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA369478
Entities
People
- Philip Deavel
Organizations
- United States Department of the Air Force