Privatising H2O: Turning local waters into global money

Abstract

The paper critically engages with the global project of commodifying and privatising water resources. In the first part, neo-liberal privatisation policies are contextualised historically and politically. In a second part, the discourse of water »scarcity« is explored in relation to the logic of privatisation. In a subsequent part, the strategies of global corporations that share the water markets will be examined. This, in turn, leads to a consideration of the continuing centrality of the state and of »governance« in the regulation of the water sector, and to a discussion of the weakened position of the citizen vis-à-vis these modes of water governance. Finally, the contradictions of water privatisation will be explored.