Public-Private Partnership: What Is the Impact on Local Governance and on Standards of Living?

Relationships between public and private entities are changing. The activities of both of these entities were strongly defined until the last decades, since the ‘90s this distinction has become only intangible. Public and private organizations work together to increase their performance and to achieve social and economic development. This situation is encouraged thanks to a lot of European Union decisions. The Leader Program and other similar initiatives stimulate the constitution of public – private partnerships, like LAGs (Local Action Groups), that promote sustainable local development and involve resources of a great number of entities, such as public administrations, firms, associations, etc.
The public–private partnership constitutes a long and lasting process studied by many scholars. They identify this new phenomenon as a tangible signal of the transformation of governance systems.
This paper discusses these topics and tries to answer the following question: can the public-private partnership represent a new mode of governance which has a positive impact on the citizen’s life?
To answer this question, this research will underline four main aspects:
- the first one reviews the literature about the development of partnership models;
- the second one refers to the European Union model adopted to encourage the constitution of public-private partnerships;
- the third one shows the analysis of the Monte Linas LAG, a successful example of a local partnership that affects the economical and social growth the whole of Sardinia (a region of Italy);
- the fourth one represents the very aim of the work. Considering the results of the single case study, this part will fully address the presentation of the public-private partnership as a new model of governance: the partnership governance.
Furthermore, the paper will highlight the opportunities that the partnership governance offers to citizens in order to improve their social and economic perspectives.