Reinventing Government Accountability: Public Functions, Privatization, and the Meaning of "State Action"

• Published in: Public administration review Vol. 58; no. 3; pp. 247 - 258
• Main Authors: Gilmour, Robert S., Jensen, Laura S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, Ill American Society for Public Administration 01.05.1998
• Subjects: 4330; 9190; 9550; Accountability; Administrative agencies; Authority; Civil Rights Legislation; Customer services; Delegation of authority; Employees; Executive branch; Executives; Federal court decisions; Federal government; Governance; Government; Government (Administrative Body); Government performance; Government programs; Judicial process; Law; Legal Responsibility; Litigation; Medical Services; Neurological Impairments; Privacy rights; Private sector; Privatization; Public administration; Public law; Public management; Public officials; Public sector; Public sector organizations; Regulation; Social Services; State; State Action; State actions; State laws; U.S.A; USA; United States > US
• ISSN: 0033-3352; 1540-6210
• DOI: 10.2307/976565

Privatization is, for many, the contemporary answer to inefficient government administration. But when public functions are relegated to the nongovernmental sector, more is altered than mere organizational arrangements to promote governmental economy. While such transfers may offer efficiencies, they may simultaneously enable government and its officials to escape legal responsibility for actions that are permitted, encouraged, controlled, or paid for by the state. The rights of citizens at the hands of official authority are protected by the Constitution and an array of public laws; at the hands of private parties, very different and less protective rules apply. This article makes the case that contemporary judicial treatment of the transfer of government authority to "private" third parties, though inconsistent, is implicated in a wholesale loss of government accountability. The authors argue that the existence of an effective public accountability scheme requires a coherent understanding of "state action"-both before and after privatization decisions. Toward that end they outline a four-step inquiry for the recognition of state responsibility so that government accountability is assured and citizen rights are preserved.