Work performed and completed includes:
1. the recruitment of the project team including two postdoctoral RAs and three PhD students (the final one starting in September 2021);
2. completion of the relevant data management and ethics procedures and submitted all the relevant deliverables.
3. Completion of all project work packages involving research fieldwork and comparative analysis of the remunicipalisaton and deprivatisation across five country contexts.
4. Supervision to successful completion of 2 PhD students.
5. Establishing with our civil society partners an online database, Public Futures, that is categorising and tracking deprivatisation and remunicipalistion. To date in September 2025 this features over 1,700 cases in 79 countries on every continent. The project team were successful in securing extra funding from the University of Glasgow’s Knowledge Exchange Fund (alongside partner organisation TNI) to establish Public Futures (see:
https://publicfutures.org/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre))
6. Writing up and publishing research outputs. To date, this includes: the production of an 85,000 monograph in a first draft form (The Future of the Public, contracted with Verso); publication of 7 journal articles with a further 3 submitted and under revision; and 3 policy papers with non-academic partners (TNI, UCLG and PSI).
7. Dissemination of project findings through academic conferences, 2 dedicated project workshops and public engagement events with ILO and other UN bodies, UCLG and European and global public service trade union organisation.
Key results so far have been:
(i) the undertaking of a global mapping exercise and analysis with the finding that remunicipalisation is taking place in 79 countries in 92 diverse sectors, with 1,789 cases thus far. The research finds that remunicipalisation is most prevalent in Western Europe and North America where there has been greater pushback against initial privatisation processes. Remunicipalisations are strongest in energy (24%) and water (22%), with growing activity in telecoms, health, social care, and waste. Main motivations include improving service quality and reducing costs. Regaining local and democratic control are also important factors.
(ii) Detailed comparative analysis of five countries has revealed that remunicipalisation and de-privatisation are a response to the failings of neoliberal governance to deliver for essential public services. Although most remunicipalisations take place without major changes to top-down management and governance practices, it does appear (in those cases where there is data) to improve efficiency and delivery of public services..
(iii) There are some important examples of citizen mobilisation and democratic participation through remunicipalisation campaigns (particularly in decentralised states such as German and US). There are also examples of trade union renewal and increased democratic accountability across our case study countries. Further research and analysis of data from the project is ongoing into the relationship between remunicipalisation and alternative more egalitarian and democratic models of local development.
