Public resistance to privatisation in water and energy (original) (raw)
Related papers
Private and public interests in water and energy
Natural Resources Forum, 2004
Based on empirical evidence from developed, transition and developing countries, the article looks at how the introduction of private operators' interests into the water supply/sanitation and energy sectors may conflict with public interests in socioeconomic, environmental and political dimensions. Case studies are used to illustrate the dynamics of these interactions, covering phenomena such as unsolicited proposals, misrepresentation and corruption; the exploitation of established positions by taking advantage of asymmetry of information and negotiating capacity in relation to public authorities; and exit from contracts or concessions when acceptable profitability cannot be attained. This experience indicates that the introduction of private companies into these sectors creates the permanent possibility of conflict between private and public interests. The services are too vital both socially and economically to rely on corporate self-regulation, and countries lack effective capacity to regulate such corporations. The authors conclude that policies relying on corporate activity in these sectors are unnecessarily risky, and that policy development should focus on building strong public sector institutions to provide these services.
Political Ecology of Water: Alternatives to Privatization
Why alternatives to privatization of water are essential? To begin with this premise this paper aimed at studying the rapidly build strong (and frequently successful) resistance from the Water activists, social action groups and trade unions. This is also important when new privatization plans are revealed, why their demand for promoting 'water as human rights' and 'our water is not for sale' becomes slogan for protest to keep water public.
Privatisation Results: Private Sector Participation in Water Services After 15 Years
Development Policy Review, 2006
Privatisation of public infrastructure has been the mantra of many development agencies since the late 1980s. Water supply is no exception, and various forms of private sector participation (PSP) have been tried in the water and sanitation sector. This article examines the results of these experiments. It suggests that PSP has had mixed results and that in several important respects the private sector seems to be no more efficient in delivering services than the public sector. Despite growing evidence of failures and increasing public pressure against it, privatisation in water and sanitation is still alive, however. Increasingly, it is being repackaged in new forms such as that of public-private partnership.
2012
This dissertation sheds new light upon the complex interplay of factors (social, political and economic) that constrain the enabling environment for water sector reform and private sector participation (PSP) by analysing of the process of policy reform and the nature of stakeholder engagement in the provision of water and sanitation. Findings are based on an in depth case study of the La Paz/El Alto concession arrangement from 1997-2005, when the contract was abruptly terminated. The analysis is encompassed within the New Institutional Economics conceptual framework as it provides a holistic application of economic analysis on the role of incentives, institutions and behaviour, providing a common link in understanding between traditional economists and other social scientists, allowing for greater reflection as to the ways socio-political, cultural and historical contexts determine the behaviour of those involved in the water reform process. The delicate nature of the water sector provides evidence of how under certain institutional constraints, and where optimum accumulation of information is virtually impossible, human behaviour can become motivated by a volatile set of preferences, making it particularly difficult for policy-makers to manage the reform process and accurately predict reform outcomes. Research findings conclude that the difficulties policy-makers faced in reforming the water sector and introducing PSP in the case of La Paz/El Alto, stemmed from three fundamental factors: (i) The reform process did not consider how race-based socio-political and economic hierarchies, endemic in Bolivian history and culture, would influence intended outcomes; (ii) stakeholders underestimated the transaction costs involved in the process of reform and PPP implementation due to information and bargaining asymmetries; (iii) systemic barriers, beyond the control of stakeholders involved, constrained the space for partnership innovation and flexibility in the provision of water and sanitation, debilitating the possibilities for future collaboration between civil society, government and the private sector.
Introduction: Public Values and Public Participation in Decision-Making in Times of Privatisation
Privatisation poses challenges to the manner in which public values, such as accessibility, affordability, reliability, safety and sustainability, can be secured. In liberal societies the state, legitimised through democratic elections (input legitimacy) and the rule of law upheld by courts (output legitimacy), was traditionally regarded as the entity responsible for securing such values -although these values were perceived rather thinly. During the second half of the 20 th century, with the role of the state expanding and public values conceived more thickly, the perception emerged that democratic elections and courts upholding the rule of law were not sufficient for legitimising the exercise of public power by states and that concerned members of the public should play a direct role in securing public values. As a result, public participation in the national context -here defined as consisting of the following elements: transparency (including access to information), public participation in decision-making, and access to courts or courtlike institutions -emerged as a tool for securing public values, as well as checking, and thereby legitimising (input legitimacy), the exercise of public power by the state.
Book review: Privatizing Water: Governance Failure and the World's Urban Water Crisis
International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2013
Karen Bakker’s Privatizing Water: Governance Failure and the World’s Urban Water Crisis is an inspiring and groundbreaking attempt to examine the ideological and historical contexts of water privatization in urban settings. Finding both public and private ownership of water resources unsatisfactory in providing adequate services to urban poor, Bakker scrutinizes governance failure caused by overlapping roles of state, market, and communities on service provision and environmental protection. Rigorous in methodology and multidisciplinary in theoretical framework, Bakker’s seminal work unravels the conventional approach to the privatization debate and opens new horizons for discussion on resource management, state–market relations, and development.