The last decade has seen welfare systems throughout the Western
world challenged as governments launched major efforts to stabilize or
reduce government social expenditures and to return a larger share of
the responsibility for social welfare services to private hands. This
fiscal crisis and its accompanying theme of retrenchment coincided with
the emergence of neoconservatism that has led to polarized debate and a
significant change in attitude and policy regarding the role and
function of government in society.
Public Funds, Private Provision analyzes the respective
roles of government and the voluntary sector in the financing and
administration of social services. Focusing on development in British
Columbia from 1983 to 1991, when the Social Credit government actively
pursued a policy of privatization, this book examines the growth of the
voluntary sector there and presents data which track the impact of
privatization on services. It examines the issues of funding and
accountability of the voluntary sector as it adopts the public agent
role and increasingly delivers services on behalf of government.
In its discussion of the new partnership between government and the
voluntary sector, this thought-provoking book raises important issues
about government privatization policies and about the possible effects
these policies will have on the future of the welfare state in Western
society.