Water from the Heights, Water from the Grassroots : The Governance of Common Dynamics and Public Services in La Paz-El Alto
In this paper, the authors approach water governance not only through the prism of sectoral organization and the official services, but also through all of the practices, still to be “integrated” into the regulatory framework,that give rise to orde...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/280611487333986222/Water-from-the-heights-water-from-the-grassroots-the-governance-of-common-dynamics-and-public-services-in-La-Paz-El-Alto http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26097 |
| Summary: | In this paper, the authors approach
water governance not only through the prism of sectoral
organization and the official services, but also through all
of the practices, still to be “integrated” into the
regulatory framework,that give rise to order and social
progress. In doing so, we do not wish to limit public
actions tog overnment decisions, however much these may have
been democratically debated or even jointly constructed, but
rather we wish to re-articulate social practices and
collective action. consider that what society produces for
itself is an integral part of governance. For this, start
with the example of access to urban water in Bolivia, as
that public action in Bolivia and the water sector not only
emblemize what is being played out on the regulation front
between State, communities, and society, but also question
the place that the collective interest holds within the
sphere of general interest. Firstly, the political project
of Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Aymara president and a
defender of the country’s traditional values, was to
redefine the rules of the game in view of reappropriating a
national identity. The intent was to make them less liberal
and more inclusive, notably by attempting to integrate the
dynamics of customary practice into the workings of the
modern State. Moreover, his policies have largely been
based on the re-appropriation of national resources, in a
broadand highly symbolic move to negotiate with the
multinationals that manage the country’s water, gas and oil
industries. Secondly, the water sector lends itself
particularly well to an analysis of multi-stakeholder
governance as the reality of large cities in developing
countries is still one where limited or failing public
services struggle to serve agglomerations and keep up with
the pace of their demographic growth. Public water
distribution services (managed by the State or delegated to
the private sector) are thus systematically “supplemented”
informally by a multitude of other players whose social
function is crucial: small private traders, itinerant or
network operators, community services (cooperatives or user
associations), resale by neighbors, etc. These stakeholders
participate in water governance even if they are not part of
the sector’sregulatory framework. After setting up a
panorama of the official urban water sector in La Paz-El
Alto, two cases that typify the thinking on the way that the
dynamics of the commons and public service are interlinked :
one involves the environmental risks and possible trade-offs
required to balance the interests of communities and the
general interest, while the other concerns the issues of
articulating grassroots common services (water cooperatives)
and public service. |
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