Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government

by Evan McKenzie

In Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government, attorney and political science scholar Evan McKenzie explores emerging trends in private governments and competing schools of thought on how to operate them, from state oversight to laissez-faire libertarianism. The most common analyses see CIDs from a neoclassical economic, positive point of view. HoAs, this strain of analysis maintains, are more efficient and frugal than municipalities. And what could be more democratic than government of the neighbors, by the neighbors? But scholars coming from institutional analysis, communitarianism, and critical urban theory frameworks see possible repercussions. These include a development's failure leaving residents on the hook for crippling sums, capture or extension of the local state, and convergence of public and private local governments

Genres: Nonfiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2011

Reviews

[DW Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite short, and on some level is a follow-up to the author's earlier book on the topic, Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government, which I haven't read but perhaps need to. However, I thought it did a good job of discussing some of the legal and practical issues with the rise of homeowners' associations as a form of local governance, as well as discussing why the practice has become so widespread. It was more balanced than I generally expect books on the topic to be, too.