Privatizing water : governance failure and the world's urban water crisis

The Resource Privatizing water : governance failure and the world's urban water crisis

Label

Privatizing water : governance failure and the world's urban water crisis

Title remainder

governance failure and the world's urban water crisis

Statement of responsibility

Karen Bakker

Language

eng

Summary

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

Cataloging source

N$T

Dewey number

363.6/1

Illustrations

illustrations
maps

Index

index present

LC call number

HD4456

LC item number

.B35 2010eb

Literary form

non fiction

NAL call number

HD4456

NAL item number

.B35 2010

Nature of contents

dictionaries
bibliography

Context

Context of Privatizing water : governance failure and the world's urban water crisis

Structured data from the Bibframe namespace is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. Additional terms may apply to data associated with third party namespaces.

Context

Work of