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United Nations-Business Partnerships: Good Intentions and Contradictory Agendas

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Abstract

In recent years, the United Nations has taken a lead in advocating public–private partnerships (PPPs), and various UN entities actively seek partnerships and alliances with transnational corporations and other companies. Although there has been a rapid growth of PPPs, relatively little is known about their contribution to basic UN goals associated with inclusive, equitable and sustainable development. In response to this situation, there are increasing calls for impact assessments. This article argues that such assessments need to recognize the range of ideational, institutional, economic and political factors and forces underpinning the turn to PPPs, and the very different logics and agendas involved, some of which seem quite contradictory from the perspective of equitable development and democratic governance. The article examines these different forces and logics, focusing on (a) the institutional turn towards “good governance”, (b) economic contexts that relate to the very mixed “fortunes” of UN agencies and corporations, (c) structural determinants associated with “corporate globalisation” and (d) political drivers that relate to the struggle for hegemony and legitimisation. The article ends by reflecting critically on the tendency within mainstream development institutions and some strands of academic literature to highlight logics associated with good governance and pragmatism, and to disregard those associated with the strengthening of corporate interests and the neoliberal policy regime. It is argued that knowledge networks associated with the UN need to go beyond “best practice learning” and embrace “critical thinking”, which has waned within UN circles since the 1980s.

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Abbreviations

AIDS:

acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

DFID:

Department for International Development (United Kingdom)

FDI:

foreign direct investment

GHP:

Global Health Partnership

GSB:

Growing Sustainable Business

HIV:

human immunodeficiency virus

IFPMA:

International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations

IMF:

International Monetary Fund

MDG:

Millennium Development Goal

NPM:

New Public Management

NGO:

non-governmental organization

ODA:

official development assistance

OECD:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PPP:

public–private partnership

PPPUE:

Public–Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment

SME:

small and medium-sized enterprise

TNC:

transnational corporation

UK:

United Kingdom

UN:

United Nations

UN-BP:

United Nations-business partnership

UNCTAD:

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UNDESA:

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

UNDP:

United Nations Development Programme

UNEP:

United Nations Environment Programme

UNICEF:

United Nations Children’s Fund

UNRISD:

United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

US:

United States

WEF:

World Economic Forum

WHO:

World Health Organization

WSSD:

World Summit on Sustainable Development

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  1. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Palais des Nations, 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland

    Peter Utting & Ann Zammit

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  1. Peter Utting
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Correspondence to Peter Utting.

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This article draws heavily on various sections of Utting and Zammit, 2006. The authors would like to thank José Carlos Marques for research assistance.

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Utting, P., Zammit, A. United Nations-Business Partnerships: Good Intentions and Contradictory Agendas. J Bus Ethics 90 (Suppl 1), 39–56 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9917-7

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