PSIRU researches the privatisation and restructuring of public services around the world, with special focus on water, energy, waste management, and healthcare.

It produces reports and maintains an extensive database on the multinational companies involved. This core database and website are financed by Public Services International (PSI), the global confederation of public service trade unions.

PSIRU reports

  • October 2016

    This report provides an analysis of the problems facing public provision of water in Lagos, Nigeria, highlighting the problems of privatization and public-private partnerships. Key findings from the report include: . Improving public water systems is both possible and preferable. . Public financing, rather than private investment, provides a better deal for the people and the government of cities like Lagos. . Collaboration between public providers provides better solutions than privatized, competition-based systems. . Strengthening public water systems is good for democratic governance. Lagos. water system can become a world-class model for other cities to follow. The report makes recommendations for improving public provision, which constitute a plan for a well-functioning, democratically governed water system in Lagos and beyond.

  • Apr 2016

    The possibility of a return to public ownership of the UK energy system has increased since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour party. This paper sets out the advantages of public ownership; the extent of public ownership in other countries; how the process of returning to the public sector could work in the UK – taking full account...

  • Mar 2016

    Just as there has been tension between EU migration policies and national level policies, there is growing evidence that local authorities...

  • Dec 2015

    Digitalisation and the introduction of e-government is going through a development process in most European countries at federal, regional and local levels. Digitalisation has the potential to introduce new public services which meet the needs of groups which have not been met before as well as...

  • Dec 2015

    This briefing paper outlines why taxation is important, the problems of tax base erosion and...

  • Oct 2015

    This report provides a profile of the company SECURITAS, recently awarded a contract for Security and Visitor Services at the National Gallery, London, UK.

  • Oct 2015

    This briefing paper outlines why taxation is important, the problems of tax base erosion and...

  • Sep 2015

    This report analyses the rise of global multinational health care companies and the impact of health sector reforms on public health services, particularly the effect on public health care workers.

  • Jul 2015

    The report examines the legal and economic bases of the interventions by  the IMF and EU which have forced countries such as Greece to adopt austerity policies, despite the negative impact on economic and social development. It analyses the policy objectives underwriting these...

  • Jul 2015

    Generation III+ designs were meant to drive the ‘Nuclear Renaissance’ that was forecast by the nuclear industry from the late 1990s onwards. The central claim for the new technologies was that they would build on existing technology but the design, especially the safety systems, would be rationalized. This...

  • Apr 2015

    This book provides the most comprehensive catalogue of water remunicipalisation cases produced so far. It looks at: the experiences with water remunicipalisation in key countries (France, the US, and Germany), and important cities (Paris and Jakarta); the challenge posed to public water...

PSIRU briefs