MARKETS,PARTNERSHIPS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 9
element can be difficult to achieve in relation with a government-based partner, and
also reduce accountability for ordinary citizens.
For our study on SWM, we use the term partnership^8 , but in the wider sense of the
concept, based on our earlier discussion of the term alliance^9. Partnerships in this
study are used to describe established relationships between actors in the
SWM-system (which will be defined in the next section). The distinguishing features
of a partnership are (Baud and Post, 2002; Baud, 2000):
- It involves two or more actors^10 , although not necessarily a public sector actor;
- It refers to a more or less enduring relationship between the actors (based on a
written or verbal agreement) regarding public goods provision; - The relationship is beneficial for all actors (without assuming equality or equal
benefits between actors); - It finds expression in concrete (physical) activities, in which each actor invests
materially or immaterially; - The bargaining process can include potential areas of tension and conflict as well
as co-operation; - The partnership must regard the provision of public goods (or have a spin-off
relating to a public good).
In principle, partnerships provide benefits to each of the actors involved, but this does
not imply equality among them, for in most such relationships issues of power are at
stake. Although partnerships suggest a degree of stability, they should nevertheless be
seen as expressions of people’s practices that have an inherent tendency to evolve,
adapt and dissolve in response to changing circumstances. The rise to prominence of
private waste contractors in a domain that historically was regarded as the domain of
the public sector is a case in point. Finally, it is important to map the various partner-
ships in garbage collection and disposal in order to avoid a preoccupation with the
most dominant ones, and to come to an appreciation of the potentials of the others.
- Among urban planners and economists, the term partnership often has the narrower definition of pub-
lic-private sector partnerships, with large private enterprises being contracted in various ways to pro-
vide services. - Alliance was used in the article published in Cities (Baud et al., 2001), as an alternative to partner-
ships, because of the international literature on partnerships where there is certain euphoria about the
potential of partnerships. In our definition, as in the further political science literature discussed
above, there is no assumption of equality between actors, and possible inequitable divisions of invest-
ment in time and money, as well as in benefits. - However, we do not want to make the limitation of having at least one actor from the public sector, as
a number of partnerships exist between the private sector and communities regarding basic services,
where the public sector is not directly involved.