Social Procurement and New Public Governance

The present article is to introduce and review the book entitled Social Procurement and New Public Governance by Jo Barraket, Robyn Keast and Craig Furneaux, published in 2016 by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, in the United States. Adopting a critically informed approach, this innovative text investigates emerging strategies for social procurement within the context of new public governance (NPG) as well as social procurement practices in Europe, North America, and Australia. This book also reflects on policy change and activities in the field of social procurement with respect to NPG and then delivers a comprehensive analysis of start-up, purchasing, and procurement from the perspective of social procurement, social value, and public value. This text is of theoretical importance for political studies and third-party management and even contributes to broadening knowledge concerning the intricacies of governance and management via networks, particularly the management of hybrid organizations developing from NPG and its networks. Additionally, the authors believe that social procurement demands the integration of new resources, skills, and relations between policy-makers and economic actors. Therefore, this article is of use for scholars and students of public administration, social entrepreneurship, and political studies. Moreover, it is to the advantage of public and private sector professionals involved in the design, implementation, management, and evaluation of social procurement activities.