Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been a proliferating subject for debates for three decades now. The determinants of this type of private participation in public infrastructure and services were largely exploited in scientific literature and discourses of policy makers. One of the main findings coming out of these studies for a successful implementation of a PPP project is the importance of a prosperous business environment characterized by a well-established institutional context. This paper investigates how PPP projects processes can evolve and perform within a particularly influencing environment of countries with frail economy, unstable political situation, weak institutions and an absence of adequate regulatory system. It starts with a review of the main elements that attracted scholars in PPP literature. Then, it proposes a coevolutionary perspective to observe the dynamics of establishing a PPP project in the unstable environment of an emerging country and its interaction with different elements of the institutional system. Our study inductively explores the field, observing the processes in action and developmental sequence of events of a PPP project taking place in the energy sector of the studied country. By calling up elements from the coevolution theory the paper seeks further understanding of strategic choices, adaptation and performance within a cross-sectoral collaboration in weakly institutionalized environments. It also highlights the interplay of institutional elements involved in the process of PPP institutionalization in this same context.
