Keeping privatization on track: the active state, the unwilling investor and the case of rail freight in the UK

This paper presents a case study of rail freight privatization in the UK within the context of wider debates about globalization, the neo-liberal privatization programme and the role of the stale. The case study reveals the interventionist role played by the state in both legitimizing die process of privatization and selling the idea to a reluctant private sector al home and abroad. In doing so, it points to a number of contradictions and problems in the model of privatization chosen that raises larger questions about the process of economic liberalization and market deregulation.