Books and articles by Dexter Whitfield

Latest books and articles

The People’s Inquiry into Privatisation in Australia

Submission by Dexter Whitfield on the critical importance and need for alternatives to privatisation. A demand for public ownership alone is inadequate. It must be accompanied by proposals to radically change the way public services are managed and held democratically accountable. Otherwise, public ownership alone will ultimately lead to re-privatisation later.

2016-09-29 13:05:09

PAPERBACK EDITION - Unmasking Austerity: Opposition and Alternatives in Europe and North America

This important book is now available in paperback with full colour graphics, price £15.00 from http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/acatalog/Dexter_Whitfield.html and from Amazon books – ISBN 978 0 85124 8417

2014-10-16 12:51:09

Unmasking austerity and organising for new challenges, Dexter Whitfield

We need to draw lessons from the strategies used to oppose austerity policies and neoliberal ‘transformation’ of public services. New challenges include reversing the decline in labour share of national income and the slow pace of financial market reforms. Opposition to transnational free trade agreements must be strengthened. “New approaches to organising, building alliances and action strategies will require ideological and cultural change within trade unions, community and civil society organisations. Since ‘business as usual’ is not a viable public service option, neither is it an option for organisations opposing austerity and neoliberalism”. False Economy, September 2014. http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/unmasking-austerity-and-organising-for-new-cha llenges- dexter-whitfield

2014-09-14 08:51:02

Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services: The Ideological Context, Paper No. 4 - Dexter Whitfield

This paper for the National Coalition for Independent Action's Inquiry examines neoliberal ideology and objectives and their role in the transformation of public services and the welfare state. The paper highlights ways in which voluntary sector organisations are being drawn into the commercialisation and marketisation of public services and the effects of a contract culture.

2014-06-19 17:12:58

Unmasking Austerity

Unmasking Austerity: Opposition and Alternatives in Europe and North America, by Dexter Whitfield, Spokesman Books (eBook)

2014-04-18 17:47:22

UK outsourcing expands despite high contract failure rates

An article on False Economy explains why PPP strategic partnerships remain untouched by the government’s procurement reforms. It sets out the four key reasons for the high failure rate of strategic partnerships. http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/uk-outsourcing-expands-despite-high-failure-ra tes

2014-01-30 18:25:19

Should we turn the NHS into co-ops and mutuals?

Explains why the transfer of NHS and other public services to social enterprises, mutual or cooperatives is privatisation, irrespective of the ownership model, staff and user engagement, democratic structures and community support. It examines the pathways to markets, the performance of social enterprises and the way forward including the re-integration of client and contractor and strategic improvement of in-house NHS services. http://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/dexter-whitfield/should-we-turn-nhs-into-c o- ops-and-mutuals

2013-11-14 11:39:58

The Crisis in Adult Social Care

An eBook by Ian Ferguson and Michael Lavalette that examines recent developments in social work with adults, including the personalisation agenda, and critically discusses the prospects for adult social care in a context of never-ending austerity. Six respondents, including Dexter Whitfield, comment on the paper followed by concluding a reply to their comments by the main authors. Critical and Radical Debates in Social Work, Policy Press, €8.11, http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/adult-social-care

2013-11-14 11:36:56

UNMASKING AUSTERITY: Lessons for Australia, by Dexter Whitfield

Documents why austerity failed and its disastrous economic and social effects in Europe and North America and highlights why Australia should not adopt these policies. Government debt continued to increase, reduced demand intensified the recession, negative or weak growth prevailed and the private sector failed to invest. The cost of lost output, reduced wealth, mass unemployment and government intervention runs into trillions in any currency. Austerity advocates were equally committed to embedding neoliberalism in the public sector and the welfare state and reconfiguring the role of the state. Prepared for the Don Dunstan Foundation and Public Service Association of South Australia and published by the Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre, University of Adelaide. http://www.adelaide.edu.au/wiser/docs/WISeR_unmasking-austerity.pdf

2013-08-20 09:50:49

Fingers in the PFI, Red Pepper, Issue 188, February/March 2013

Assesses the turbulent times for PFI under the Coalition government and the wider costs and consequences. A so-called ‘new era’ PF2 makes marginal changes, except for allowing public sector bodies to participate in equity transaction profiteering. It concludes by discussing the rationale underpinning Labour’s silence on PF2.

2013-02-23 08:29:51

UK Social Services: the mutation of privatisation, Dexter Whitfield

A paper written for Studies in Social Services, Li Bing, Vice Professor, Department of Sociology, Beijing Administrative College, China. Social services are at the forefront of the continued neoliberal transformation of public services and the welfare state in the UK. The paper applies the In Place of Austerity framework to examine the changes in social services. Paper in English and Chinese.

2012-09-27 15:14:02

Labour’s illusory reforms, Dexter Whitfield in Democratic Socialist, Summer 2006.

Shows how the development of a market-based choice and contestability model of modernisation will erode democratic accountability and have a negative long-term effect on democratic institutions.

2012-08-18 20:14:37

The Third Way for Education: privatisation and marketisation, Dexter Whitfield, in FORUM for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, Vol. 42, No 2, Summer 2000, p82 – 85.

Demonstrates how a new era of privatisation is emerging and how this will impact on education.

2012-08-18 20:10:54

Privatisation and International Restructuring, Dexter Whitfield, in World View 1985, Pluto Press, London, p140 – 149.

Examines UK privatisation in the context of the sale of public assets in Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East and how transnational companies are reorganising to exploit the internationalisation of privatisation.

2012-08-18 20:02:58

Beware the UK’s 'community rights': the latest mutation of privatisation, Open Democracy

Cutting through the coalition government’s rhetoric of localism and ‘community rights’, Dexter Whitfield exposes a strategy to further destabilise and fracture public provision, accelerating marketisation and privatisation.

2012-08-18 19:15:54

Public Pain: The insidious destruction of public services, Dexter Whitfield

“This is not so much a ‘hollowing out’ of the state, but a fundamental redirection to finance and manage markets and collusion in the deepening of corporate welfare.” Chartist, July/August 2012.

2012-07-19 14:51:01

The payments-by-result road to marketisation, Dexter Whitfield

“‘Payment by results’ has become the new performance management mantra. It is intended to incentivise contractors, with payment conditional on the completion of agreed outputs or outcomes. There are currently two such payment and reward models: the social impact bond mechanism and phased incentive payments.” This article examines the implications of this approach, the growth of ‘social markets’, incentive payment contracts and explains why it is a high risk strategy; pages 22-23, in Critical Reflections: social and criminal justice in the first year of Coalition government, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, March 2012.

See also Research note: The “social enterprise-payment by results-social impact bond” privatization trilogy?, Margot Young, Canadian Union of Public Employees, April 2012.

2012-07-19 14:20:05

Plan B and Beyond

A critical assessment of Compass's Plan B that reveals its shortcomings and need for a more radical and comprehensive socialist alternative, by Dexter Whitfield, Red Pepper Issue 182, Feb/Mar 2012.

2012-07-19 08:55:15

In Place of Austerity

In Place of Austerity, Restructuring the economy, state and public services, by Dexter Whitfield, Spokesman.

2011-11-09 14:02:33

The Dynamics of Public Sector Transformation, Dexter Whitfield

Soundings Winter 2010, Issue 46, pp99-111.

Outlines the elements of neoliberal transformation of the public sector and the criteria needed to assess the level of embeddedness and effectiveness of recent ‘reform’. It identifies key challenges beyond 2010 and proposes strategies to achieve progressive and systemic change.

2011-02-07 13:16:17

Launch events and presentations

Details of events and lectures in Britain, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Sweden. Further dates to be added.

2009-11-24 15:41:22

Press Release

Publication of Global Auction of Public Assets

2009-11-24 15:26:46

Global Auction of Public Assets Glossary

Glossary of 140 terms

2009-11-03 20:01:29

Global Auction of Public Assets

Global Auction of Public Assets: Public sector alternatives to the infrastructure market & Public Private Partnerships

2009-10-21 14:21:00

Book Review: Confuse and Conceal: The NHS and Independent Sector Treatment Centres

The book by Stewart Player and Colin Leys exposes how a succession of New Labour Health Ministers, advisers, senior civil servants and staff recruited from the private sector operated in the Department of Health to restructure the private health care sector with a network of Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCs). Equally important, it chronicles the failure of scrutiny.

2008-04-17 08:56:33

Financing Infrastructure in the 21st Century: The Long Term Impact of Public Private Partnerships in Britain and Australia by Dexter Whitfield

A detailed study of the longer-term impact of changes in the design, structure and financing of PPP/PFI projects, external economic and political drivers such as growth of the secondary market and government modernisation policies, and the effect of economic, social and employment change. The report also examines PPP/PFI performance, democratic accountability and transparency, the impact on jobs and concludes with an assessment of alternative public sector investment strategies. Copies of the 80 page report are available from: Don Dunstan Foundation, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia. Email – dunstan.foundation@adelaide.edu.au Price £10.00 includes airmail postage.

2007-07-16 13:32:28

Marketisation of Legal Services

Legal Action, Journal of the Legal Action Group, March 2007. Examines how public services are being marketised and assesses the impact on legal services.

2007-05-23 19:54:13

New Labour's Attack on Public Services

New Labour is creating markets in public services on an unprecedented scale. Education, health and social care, children’s services, housing, planning and regeneration, the criminal justice system and the welfare state are all being marketised. Privatisation inevitably follows marketisation, eroding democratic accountability and embedding business interests. The impact will be far reaching. Any benefits in terms of economic, social and sustainable development that are gained through regional strategies and city regions could evaporate if market forces are allowed to run rampant across the public sector.

Alternative policies and strategies must build on the support for democratic governance, social justice and the welfare state. As this timely book makes clear, action by alliances of trade unions, community organisations and civil society organisations is urgently required.

2006-11-28 12:54:53

The Marketisation of Teaching

The Marketisation of Teaching PFI Journal No 52 The April 2006 issue of the PFI Journal contains an article by Dexter Whitfield which examines the potential impact of the Building Schools for the Future programme on education.

2006-11-28 10:09:45

PPPs- Where Will We Be By 2010?

PPPs- Where Will We Be By 2010?, Dexter Whitfield, Public Management and Policy Association Newsletter, No.16, February 2002

2006-11-28 09:51:20

Partnerships, Privatisation and the Public Interest - Public Private Partnerships and the Financing of Infrastructure Development in South Australia

By John Spoehr, Dexter Whitfield and John Quiggin for the Public Service Association of South Australia (2002). Discusses the basics, origins and rationale of PPPs, draws on the lessons from the British and Australian experience (55pp)

2006-11-28 09:16:11

Public Services or Corporate Welfare - Rethinking the Nation State in the Global Economy by Dexter Whitfield

A comprehensive analysis of key issues confronting public services and the welfare state in the global economy. Provides a radical analysis of modernisation including partnerships, private finance and Best Value; analyses how the state facilitates globalisation by promoting private finance and the marketisation of public services; exposes how the Third Way masks the continuity of neo-liberalism; demonstrates how the World Trade Organisation is committed to privatising public services and welfare states; charts the emergence of a Corporate–Welfare Complex; promotes a revitalised role for the state in a new system of global governance, stressing the importance of sustaining and improving the welfare state; advocates a dynamic new model of public service management placing priority on innovation, equality and investment as an alternative to the reinvention and performance management models.

2003-12-01 17:51:55

A Political Strategy for Public Services, Critical Social Policy, 1983, 3:102

The lack of a coherent labour movement strategy and the Labour Party’s acceptance of dual provision are discussed. Draws on the lessons from anti-privatisation campaigns and proposes a seven-point strategy. Identifies the various forms of marketization and privatisation and their impact on services users, jobs, democratic accountability and the public cost of competition. Concludes with an assessment of the impact on trade union organisations and their responses to municipal privatisation.

2002-05-23 08:29:51

Impact of privatisation and marketisation on municipal services in the UK, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, May, 2002, 8, pp234-251

A political economy of modernisation which examines the impact of the commercialisation, marketisation and privatisation, the transformation in local government and the growth of the enabling model of the state.

2002-02-23 08:29:51

Coal: a privatisation postponed? Capital & Class, Spring 1985, vol. 9, No. 1, pp5-14

Examines the evidence of secret government plans to privatise the UK coal industry, parts of which had already been privatised. Seven private coal companies operated half the opencast sites accounting for nearly three-quarters of site production. Researched during the 1984/85 coal strike, it shows how the privatisation of coal mining was on the political agenda of several right wing organisations.

1985-02-23 08:29:51

Fines, Failures and Illegal Practices in North America: The Implications for Health Care in Britain, NUPE/SCAT, February 1985.

Details how a few multinational companies have come to dominate US healthcare at the expense of patient and public money. The federal and state fines, failures and illegal practices of six healthcare companies are documented, including fines and failures in Canada. The anti-union activities of the companies are also examined together with British multinational firms involvement in US private health care.

1985-02-23 08:29:51

The Global Sell-Off, International Labour Reports, November-December, 1984, p18-19.

An overview of the global sell-off of public assets and services, the growth of new markets with increased levels of commercialisation. Transnational companies dominate and exploit migrant labour.

1984-11-23 08:29:51

Sale of the Century, Marxism Today, October, 1984

The biggest sale in history will also incur the biggest costs and discounts to investors. Exposes the myth of the small investor and details the speculative gains made on asset sales to date.

1984-10-23 08:29:51