A distinguished group of scholars explore the moral values and political consequences of privatization The 21st century has seen a proliferation of privatization across industries in the United States from security and the military to public transportation and infrastructure. In shifting control from the state to private actors do we weaken or strengthen structures of governance Do stateowned enterprises promise to be more equal and fair than their privatelyowned rivals What role can accountability measures play in mediating the effects of privatization and what role does coercion play in the state governance and control In this latest installment from the NOMOS series an interdisciplinary group of distinguished scholars in political science law and philosophy examine the moral and political consequences of transferring stateprovided or stateowned goods and services to the private sector. The essays consider how we should evaluate the decision to privatize both with respect to the quality of outcomes that might be produced and in terms of the effects of privatization on the core values underlying democratic decisionmaking. Privatization also affects the structure of governance in a variety of important ways and these essays evaluate the consequences of privatization on the state. Privatization sheds new light on these highly salient questions of contemporary political life and institutional design.