Partners, Not Rivals

by Martha Minow

"What happens when private companies, nonprofit agencies, and religious groups manage what government used to - in education, criminal justice, legal services, and welfare programs? As for-profit companies run schools, where will they make their profit margin? As religious groups provide job training and food stamps, will they respect public rules against discrimination and forcing people to pray?". "Renowned legal scholar Martha Minow takes on this unexamined change in our public life. She acknowledges that private commercial interests are here to stay and that religious providers have long played crucial roles in health care, social services, and schooling. New arrangements expanding these trends are not necessarily bad - market forces can be useful in improving public services, and the motivation and know-how of religious groups can help many of the most needy. Minow shows us how to guard against the dangers of privatization and preserve essential public values of due process, freed