Anomalous water rights and the politics of normalization: Collective water control and privatization policies in the Andean region

In this chapter Boelens and Zwarteveen deliver a sharp critique of the privatization of water rights in Andean countries. It is argued that historically, privatization has been used to concentrate power into the hands of the already powerful at the expense of communities that derive their livelihoods from common property management schemes. The authors are particularly critical of the Chilean example executed under the Pinochet regime and the continuing advice from the World Bank and other IFI's to continually adopt policies that abolish existing community systems and move towards much larger private systems.