The Private Sector in Development; Challenges for the State

Here is my presentation to Policy Seminar of the Sir Walter Murdoch School Public Policy and International Affairs at Murdoch University, Western Australia.

The seminar sought to examine the role of the private sector in global development and the challenges posed to developing-country states and the donor and development agencies that support them. In 2002, the Monterrey Consensus highlighted the role of domestic and private finance in development. Where the capacity of developing-country governments is often overshadowed by the development challenges they face, governments are required to think more strategically about how they use of their own resources and the ways they can mobilise other resources. The private sector, whether through foreign or domestic investment, presents a potent resource for development, but this also brings dangers. This seminar will present the ways in which private investment is being mobilised for development and the questions this raises on the role of the state in development.