Read more
This book addresses water privatization from a historical-sociological perspective and argues against the unrelenting imposition of neoprivatist water politics worldwide. Water is essential for life, but it is also a source of economic and political power. Prevailing water politics continues to erode the conditions of dignified living conditions of millions of human beings around the world, including many living in Western capitalist democracies. The book revisits water-related myths, fake truths, and authoritarian practices promoted or employed by International Financial Institutions, governments, and other powerful actors to keep enforcing long-failed policies grounded on ideological dogmas and short-term interests and argues for the substantive democratization of water politics and management. It rejects claims of scientific 'neutrality' from academics and other actors across the political spectrum who are co-responsible for the perpetuation of these conditions, interrogating the ethics of scientific-political pragmatism.
About the author
Jose Esteban Castro
is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Newcastle University, UK. He is a corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and a regular Visiting Professor in universities in Europe and Latin America. Previous books include
Water, Power, and Citizenship. Social Struggle in the Basin of Mexico
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2006),
Water and Sanitation Services. Public Policy and Management
, coedited with L. Heller (2009, 2011), and
Time, Science, and the Critique of Technological Reason
, coedited with B. Fowler, and L. Gomes (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
Summary
This book addresses water privatization from a historical-sociological perspective and argues against the unrelenting imposition of neoprivatist water politics worldwide. Water is essential for life, but it is also a source of economic and political power. Prevailing water politics continues to erode the conditions of dignified living conditions of millions of human beings around the world, including many living in Western capitalist democracies. The book revisits water-related myths, fake truths, and authoritarian practices promoted or employed by International Financial Institutions, governments, and other powerful actors to keep enforcing long-failed policies grounded on ideological dogmas and short-term interests and argues for the substantive democratization of water politics and management. It rejects claims of scientific ‘neutrality’ from academics and other actors across the political spectrum who are co-responsible for the perpetuation of these conditions, interrogating the ethics of scientific-political pragmatism.
