The MSP is examining a range of historical models of non-commercialized service delivery. From Soviet health care to the municipal socialisms of the 19th century to post-colonial experiences with state services since the 1950s, there is a wealth of non-privatized service delivery models that have been un(der)explored and whose study lacks a consistent methodological and conceptual framework for comparative purposes. Why they were operated, how they were interpreted as ‘public goods’, and who benefited from them may provide useful insights into contemporary debates over the similar questions.
Ellen Leopold and David McDonald take stock of the experience of historical movements that used local governments to challenge private service delivery and advance ‘socialist’ agendas from the late 1800s to the 1940s in their article Municipal Socialism Then and Now: Some Lessons for the Global South.