The fusion of the private and public sectors^*

* I am indebted to Rory Donnelly for research and editorial assistance on this paper.

ABSTRACT

Much of contemporary analysis treats the public and private sectors as two rather separate and fundamentally different realms. Many see one of the two sectors as inherently virtuous and the other as corrupt. The paper shows, in considerable detail, that the two sectors are deeply intertwined. It follows that we need a rather different framework to study state and society.

KEYWORDS:

• Public sector
• private sector
• public safety
• national security
• taking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Amitai Etzioni is a University Professor and Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University. He previously served as a Senior Advisor at the Carter White House; taught at Columbia University, Harvard, and the University of California at Berkeley; and served as the President of the American Sociological Association. A study by Richard Posner ranked him among the top 100 American intellectuals. He is the author of numerous books, including The moral dimension, The New Golden Rule, and My brother’s keeper. His newest book Foreign policy: Thinking outside the box was published by Routledge in 2016 for Chatham House’s series “Insights”.

Notes

* I am indebted to Rory Donnelly for research and editorial assistance on this paper.

1. See, for example, Malatesta and Carboni (2014, pp. 63–74).

2. See, for example, Radford (1965, pp. 63–85), Lorch (1978), Sapru (2013), and Cassel (1988).

3. See also Polanyi (2001).

4. See, for example, Whaites (2008).

5. See, for example, Germano (2014).

6. See, for example, Hern (2014), Arce (2014), Apple (2015b), and Lowenthal (2015).

7. See, for example, Timm (2015).

8. See also ‘Contractors who worked in conflict zones suffer high rates of PTSD, depression and get little help’ Rand Corporation, 10 December 2013

9. See, for example, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (2013).

10. See, for example, Etzioni (2012).