Assembling Privatisation Policy and Practice in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

New Public Management (NPM) has proved to be irresistible among governments in discussions about public sector reform. Traditionally, it encompasses a concerted effort to improve accountability, decentralisation and cost-efficiency. Unfortunately, it often fails to deliver these promises, and research reveals complexities of dissemination, resulting in a persistent divergence between theoretical promises and real-world implementation. Despite this, the NPM doctrine has been transferred from Western countries to developing countries and in Saudi Arabia, it has become the primary policy objective. This thesis investigates the evolution and enactment of the Saudi government’s policy for privatisation. The ontology of privatisation policy is examined by addressing three subsidiary questions: (1) how has privatisation policy evolved over the last twenty years? (2) who or what are the dominant actors driving change? and (3) how does it compare to the promises presented in the Saudi government’s official policy discourses and publications? An actor-network theory-inspired performative case study is developed to trace the re-assembling of privatisation between 1995 and 2022. The findings demonstrate inertia and an incapacity to turn the black box of the privatisation policy into reality with a prolonged period of stasis due to counterbalancing struggles and suspicions between three dominant actors: leadership, delegated authority and urgency. This thesis contributes to Callon’s (1980;1986) study of translation and displacement and his conceptualisation of the socio-logical structure of problematics, certainties and suspicions. Fundamentally, problematics are observed as being synonymous with cognitive intentions rather than specific spokespeople. As a result of this, there is a persistence of suspicions that continue to destabilise certainties. Practical recommendations describe the need for a closer evaluation of each sector’s socio-economic strengths and weaknesses alongside developing a more comprehensive privatisation plan with sectoral milestones, a schedule for implementation and more realistic timescales. Furthermore, specific transformational processes are recommended underpinned by complexity leadership.