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Political Science Environmental Policy

Privatizing Water

Governance Failure and the World's Urban Water Crisis

by (author) Karen Bakker

Publisher
Cornell University Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2010
Category
Environmental Policy, Natural Resources, Water Supply
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780801474644
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $44.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780801447235
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $175.95

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Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 18
  • Grade: 12

Description

Water supply privatization was emblematic of the neoliberal turn in development policy in the 1990s. Proponents argued that the private sector could provide better services at lower costs than governments; opponents questioned the risks involved in delegating control over a life-sustaining resource to for-profit companies. Private-sector activity was most concentrated?and contested?in large cities in developing countries, where the widespread lack of access to networked water supplies was characterized as a global crisis.

In Privatizing Water, Karen Bakker focuses on three questions: Why did privatization emerge as a preferred alternative for managing urban water supply? Can privatization fulfill its proponents' expectations, particularly with respect to water supply to the urban poor? And, given the apparent shortcomings of both privatization and conventional approaches to government provision, what are the alternatives? In answering these questions, Bakker engages with broader debates over the role of the private sector in development, the role of urban communities in the provision of "public" services, and the governance of public goods. She introduces the concept of "governance failure" as a means of exploring the limitations facing both private companies and governments.

Critically examining a range of issues?including the transnational struggle over the human right to water, the "commons" as a water-supply-management strategy, and the environmental dimensions of water privatization?Privatizing Water is a balanced exploration of a critical issue that affects billions of people around the world.

About the author

Karen Bakker is Canada Research Chair in Political Ecology, director of the Program on Water Governance, and a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia.

Karen Bakker's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, 2012 Rik Davidson/Studies in Political Eco
  • Urban Affairs Association Best Book Award

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