Privatizing Water: Globalization, States and Human Rights

This dissertation explores the transnational politics of water policy, specifically the debate over whether water should be treated as a commodity or a human right, and whether water services should be private or public. I explore this topic at two levels of analysis. At the level of global institutions and organizations, I analyze global governance on water by two sets of actors: the World Bank and its affiliated institutions and the transnational water justice movement. At the national level, I provide in-depth case studies of water privatization in Chile and the implementation of a human rights approach to water policy in Bolivia. I analyze the history of water reforms in these two countries, and evaluate the outcomes of water policy in terms of improvements in access to water services. Process tracing reveals a series of contextual factors that condition whether the human right to water can be fulfilled under private or public water services.;I argue that neither approach alone -- privatization or human rights -- can improve access to water or fulfill the human right to water. I demonstrate that state capacity to govern the water sector in the public interest, including acting as en effective interlocutor between citizens and international financial actors, is key to improving access to water and fulfilling the human right to water, regardless of whether the water service is public or private.;These findings expand existing frameworks for understanding how socioeconomic human rights are fulfilled in globalizing economies. Models of human rights fulfillment tend to only consider civil and political rights, provide a limited view of the state as a violator of rights, and focus too narrowly on legalization of socioeconomic rights. My research shows that fulfillment of socioeconomic rights requires more than improving justiciability of rights, and that strong state capacity is a key factor in fulfilling social and economic human rights. This research also challenges the neoliberal approach to water policy by showing that strong state interventions are necessary to improve access to water services.