Water Governance in Bolivia

Much has been written about the so-called water war that shook the city of Cochabamba in April, 2000. In this carefully researched book, Nasya Razavi asks why, two decades on, the promise of the iconic anti-privatization protests remains unfulfilled. Razavi's insightful analysis begins where the protests left off: the messy, indeterminate process of 'remunicipalizing' the city's water service. This is a nuanced and detailed examination of urban water governance that focuses on how participatory governance works - or doesn't - in practice. This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the right to water and how to make it a reality. - Tom Perreault, DellPlain Professor of Latin American Geography, Syracuse University, U.S.A. When the Water Wars of Bolivia subsided 20 years ago much of the world stopped watching, but internal struggles for equitable public water services continued. Two decades on, however, water remains highly stratified along class, racial and gendered lines. With a focus on Cochabamba, Razavi convincingly demonstrates how much of this outcome is linked to weak mechanisms of public involvement in decision making, traced in part to fundamental divides among key actors over the very meaning of participation. Employing a novel conceptual framework, Razavi throws critical but sympathetic light on the importance of meaningful civic engagement and how the demand for change continues to animate water movements in the country . - David A McDonald, Professor of Global Development Studies, Queen's University, Canada