The aim of this paper is
to add new elements for a better comprehension of the governance
problems that can rise from the privatisation of a complex system,
like the railway network, using a methodology that shows the
connections and the influence of the various technical, economic and
political factors at work within large technical systems.
It has been used the case-study of the
British Railways as a “paradigm” to show all the difficulties and the
risks involved in a complex transition. The paper shows that the
social costs of the privatisation of British Rail have been very high
because the governance of the transition did not fit with the economic,
technical and organisational structure of the network. The analysis,
dividing this question in the two aspects of finance and regulation,
makes evident the necessity of innovative governance schemes, to
cooperate with the increased complexity of markets and firms. United
Kingdom has been one the first European countries to liberalise the
railways, and the problems run into the British experience can be a
useful guide for other reforming systems, like the Italian one. |