UC Irvine

The privatization of water services has negative social and economic impacts on periphery nations. The hegemonic processes of the world-system generally result in the appropriation of periphery nations’ resources; however, within certain contexts this may not occur. Crisis provides an opening through which International Financial Institutions can leverage periphery nations to adopt neoliberal reforms, but this may result in a nationalist response. The case of Cochabamba in Bolivia provides a clear outline of this pathway, and of the vital roles cultural ties and local elites play in mass mobilization. Through a fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis extending this pathway across South America, I find that, if there is a lack of crisis or there is the presence of a socialist executive, privatization is expected to not occur; however, if privatization does occur, if the entity operating water services is an international corporation, a nationalist response and renationalization or remunicipalization are likely to follow.