A brief look at American history helps explain the difference. The political structure and public attitudes of today are very much the product of over 300 years of the American experience.The colonization by Europe of what is now the United States was done largely through a series of Royal Charters by the Kings of England. Each colony was granted an enormous level of self-autonomy under its charter - local regulations and local taxes were all developed by a largely independent legislature in each colony. The American Revolution began as a result of the effort of the English crown to replace some of the freedom of these legislations (largely by issuing new taxes), following an expensive French and Indian War in the 1750s. Resistance to these new taxes - and more central control from England - sparked great resistance and ultimately the Revolutionary War. Throughout this war and the years that followed, the gradual development of a federation government came from a need to deal with collective problems of defence, currency and interstate commerce, to name a few issues. But throughout this evolution of a central government, there was always careful attention to not intrude on the rights of each of the individual states. How this relates to public private partnerships today in the US is that each state within the US retains a great level of autonomy, particularly in government procurement and contractual practices. The result is a wide range of approaches to PPPs, with little or no guidance from the federal government. Accordingly, there is no equivalent of a Minister of Private Finance Initiatives at the US federal level.