State, Water and the Production of the Latin American City
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304988035 State, Water and the Production of the Latin American City Chapter · January 2015 DOI: 10.1057/9781137468673_1 CITATIONS READS 0 149 1 author: Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris Cardiff University 257 PUBLICATIONS 1,963 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Environment and Development: Shared 21st Century Sustainability Challenges View project The Value Base of Water Governance in the Upper Paraguay River Basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil. View project All content following this page was uploaded by Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris on 30 September 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. This file is to be used only for a purpose specified by Palgrave Macmillan, such as checking proofs, preparing an index, reviewing, endorsing or planning coursework/other institutional needs. You may store and print the file and share it with others helping you with the specified purpose, but under no circumstances may the file be distributed or otherwise made accessible to any other third parties without the express prior permission of Palgrave Macmillan. Please contact [email protected] if you have any queries regarding use of the file. PROOF 1 State, Water and the Production of the Latin American City Abstract: Th e introductory chapter situates the debate on the Latin American city in the wider historical and geographical perspective of colonisation, nation building, economic development and neoliberal reforms. Because Latin America is a diversifi ed and dynamic region, a critical assessment of large-scale urbanisation off ers a helpful entry point into its socioeconomic and environmental complexity. Particularly the achievements and failures of public water services reveal a great deal about the organisation, functioning and politicisation of metropolitan areas, as well as about the commitments and limitations of the state. Th e chapter fi nally explains the structure and innovation of the book, especially regarding the nexus between Latin American megacities and the evolving apparatus of the state using the dilemmas of the water sector as a critical category of analysis. Ioris, Antonio A. R. Water, State and the City. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. doi: 10.1057/9781137468673.0005. DOI: 10.1057/9781137468673.0005 9781137468666_02_cha01.indd 1 2/27/2015 3:13:31 PM PROOF Water, State and the City It borders a cliché to proclaim that the fi ve centuries of Latin America’s existence have been an intriguing mixture of feelings like ambition, obsession and violence blended together with elements of hope, excite- ment and creativity. At fi rst sight, Latin America appears as a continent rich in wealth and opportunities, and yet wrought with excesses and contradictions. Th e region’s territorial resources – silver, gold, timber, etc. – were the engine of the colonial economy, as much as the export to primary commodities – guano, copper, oil, etc. – and import substitu- tion industries seem to have sustained the post-colonial countries. Vast terrains, containing opulent ecosystems and exotic species, turn up to be also the perfect stage for heroic tragedies enacted by almost implausible characters (from caudillos and generals to left -wing leaders and religious fanatics). Th e uniqueness of the Latin American peoples and the vitality of their national identities look as the necessary outcome of unparal- leled economic exploitation and capricious social encounters. From this perspective, its epic and colourful history seems to saturate every part of the region and is always better interpreted with the help of the extrava- gant narratives of authors such as García Marquez, Alejo Carpentier or Guimarães Rosa. However, the elements included in the previous paragraph represent nothing else than an easy and distasteful stereotype. Th ere is no reason to ditch Latin America in a mist of mythology and incomprehension. Simple generalisations can be quite misleading, but it is evident that the Latin American continent is the result of multiple processes of interac- tion, work and confl ict that took place in specifi c circumstances and in response to local and international pressures. To understand them, it is necessary to engage in context-contingent and comparative analyses that connect scales and encompass both the human and material dimensions with the more-than-human and symbolic or rhetorical components of a highly politicised reality. As any other part of the world, Latin America is a lived space with a long history and dynamic geography. In the extreme, it could even be argued that Latin America doesn’t even exist as an area with fi xed boundaries and well-defi ned characteristics. Th ere are certainly numerous countries, catchments and biomes extend- ing from the southern to the northern hemisphere in this westernmost continent, but Latin America lacks clear-cut boundaries, has no precise end or beginning. Th e space, time and scale of Latin America are blurred in complex constructions that transgress linear explanations. Its history incorporated the pre-American past of European civilisations and of DOI: 10.1057/9781137468673.0005 9781137468666_02_cha01.indd 2 2/27/2015 3:13:32 PM PROOF State, Water and the Production of the Latin American City (so-called) Amerindian nations. Likewise, there is no simple border dividing North and Latin America, given that the latter extends, at least, to the south of the United States or spreads to higher northern latitudes (even to Canada). Th ere are some elements typical of Latin America that help to shape its individuality and make evident its historical and geographical phenomena. One of the most crucial ontological features of the region is its geopolitical role as an adjunct of the growth and renovation of diff erent phases of global capitalism. Th e Latin American space has taken shape, for more than 500 years, through the brutal occupation of land (by Europeans of diff erent classes and by diff erent groups of forced Africans forced into labour), the appropriation of resources and wealth, and the selective exclusion or displacement of the locals. Th e continent, with its intricate dynamics, was inaugurated during the mercantilist expansion put in place by Portugal and Spain, and soon followed by other European powers. It was the main test ground for the affi rmation of capitalism as the curtains of the Middle Ages were coming down, as much as it served the neo-colonial interests of industrial capitalism as a source of raw materials and agriculture goods. In the second half of the 20th century, with the apparent crisis of Keynesian economic policies (which was caused by a combination of local and global processes), Latin America became the privileged region for the implementation, since the 1970s, of some of the most radical neoliberal experiments. Th e present- day mechanics of transnational capitalism means that the exploitation of the workforce can now happen in the core Western nations and in Japan, as more and more areas are now occupied by Latin American migrants. Th erefore, the resulting Latin America’s landscape is the long, and still intensively unfolding, dialectics of expansion and constraints, military conquest and political subordination, increasing production and controlled consumption, hegemonies happening at diff erent scales and surprising ingenuities in a singular (but not totally diff erent) convergence of achievements, frustrations and unfulfi lled hopes. Latin America is all those things together which meet to form rich cultures, give room for political disputes and the forging of multiple social identi- ties. Th e past and the present of the continent have been determined by an idiosyncratic amalgamation of global demands and regional drivers of change. Evidently, national developmentalism, neoliberalism and the transition to something vaguely defi ned as post-neoliberal economy need to be considered by taking into account the local specifi cities of the DOI: 10.1057/9781137468673.0005 9781137468666_02_cha01.indd 3 2/27/2015 3:13:32 PM PROOF Water, State and the City Latin American region and of each country or city. Neoliberalisation is a variegated process of regulatory restructuring that evolves in succes- sive waves without a predetermined direction and with uneven eff ects (Brenner et al., 2010). Th e movement towards neoliberalism since the 1970s was not a wholesale brake with developmentalism, as much as the partial and incomplete progress towards post-neoliberalism main- tains many of the key features of the two previous regimes of capitalist accumulation. It is important, therefore, to avoid any binary analytical approach, but consider the local contingencies and multiple forms of domination and reaction (Yates and Bakker, 2014). For sure, neoliberalism has been a very traumatic experience in Latin America (not least in terms of rising prices of residential properties and the privatisation of water utilities) and there is an increasing grassroots attempt to regain control of the markets, pay more attention to social concerns and revitalise citizenship through participation and cross- sector alliances. Th is emerging agenda of post-neoliberalism combines ideological claims with on-the-ground processes and a range of hybrid mobilisation practices. It is possible to verify adjustments and new policy experiences in Brazil since 2003, in Peru since 2011 and in Mexico