Critical Infrastructure Protection and Public-Private Partnerships in the United States and the European Union

Abstract

The international system is full of threats and risks that threaten the security and resilience of individuals, organizations, enterprises, and nations which heavily rely on Critical Infrastructure (CI). Therefore, it is necessary to assure the protection of CIs as the damage or disruption of the services provided by CIs can have detrimental effects on society. Consequently, in order to achieve the protection of CIs, governments need to develop effective alliances with the private sector to overcome the issues and challenges that may emerge when creating, protecting or rehabilitating CIs. However, the liaison between the public and the private sector is a delicate topic as effective methodologies and strategies should be developed to assure Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). For this reason, this study investigates the role of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the creation, protection, and rehabilitation of CIs. Furthermore, this paper analyses the evolution of the CIP and PPP concepts, as well as the United States and the European Union strategic approach to CIP and PPPs. Also, it develops a framework for analysis to evaluate PPPs in CIP, therefore, four projects that applied the PPP methodology for their development were selected for analysis. These projects are the Long Beach California...