Reshaping Global Governance Norms through Public-Private Partnerships: The Role Private Actors Play in Promoting African Food Security in the G8’s New Alliance

Abstract

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become an integral part of global architecture, and efforts to bring public and private actors together to solve policy issues are reshaping global norms. The purpose of this exploratory research is to investigate the extent to which PPPs entrench private sector involvement in global governance, setting a universal norm wherein private entities are at the forefront of global policymaking—specifically in reference to one issue, that of promoting food security. The constructivist approach taken here focuses on the creation and legitimization of new global policymaking norms by examining identities and interests related to the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, with a particular focus on Ghana and its private sector partners. To demonstrate how the PPP concept is becoming a global norm, the analysis reviews the notion through a process of knowledge development that includes three steps—normalization, fragmentation, and assimilation. Examples from around the world detailing PPP institutionalization are given to show how PPPs have been normalized and fragmented on the global scale. Then, Ghanaian-focused documents along with relevant examples from Ethiopia and Tanzania are analyzed to explore how the PPP concept is being assimilated under the G8’s New Alliance.