FightingInternationalTerrorismviaPublic-PrivatePartnershipTheUKExperience.docVIP

Fighting International Terrorism via Public-Private Partnership: The UK Experience Dr Majid Taghavi Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK Tel: 0044 191 2274282  Fighting International Terrorism via Public-Private Partnership: The UK Experience ABSTRACT This paper attempts to examine the potential viability of the so-called public-private partnership in fighting international terrorism. In the spirit of ‘rent-seeking’ approach, a simple model of private-public cooperation is developed, enabling us to identify the weaknesses and strengths of such operation. In testing the potentials of the scheme and in measuring the extent of rent-seeking, the research has conducted a qualitative survey of 250 medium-large UK based businesses of selected SIC. The research finds that whilst nearly 50% of firms being in favour of some form of PPP, a significant majority of such firms believe that the government information vis-à-vis terror attack is either misleading, inaccurate or exaggerated. Using a multinomial logit model, the research identifies the fact that firms, on the whole, appear to be sensitive to prevention costs and to lack of trust to government information in deciding to proceed with a contingency plan against possible terror attack. The research identifies a strong case of rent-seeking by both the officials and firms who provide goods/services for government. In short, the research concludes, based on the survey’s findings, that any PPP being a one-way relationship in favour of government, and hence one must promote the idea of private businesses conducting risk assessment of terrorist threat, rather than leaving it to the rent-seeking officials. Introduction The new millennium has seen a significant increase in the number of incidents and of impact of international/trans-national terrorism in the world. It is reported that over the period 1970-1999, nearly 11000 cases of t