Globalisation, Neoliberalism, and Negotiated Development in the Andes

Water Projects and Regional Identity in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Bibliographic Data

ID4138971
AuthorsNina Laurie (0000-0003-0081-1404, Newcastle University), Simon Marvin (0000-0001-5538-5102, Newcastle University), Marvin
Year1999
Volume31
Issue8
Pages1401-1415
Publication date1999-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a311401
OpenAlexW2091783383
LanguageEN
Citations received33
References cited21

We draw on current debates about globalisation and examine the relationship between globalisation and neoliberalism in the Andes. We attempt to depart from analyses which emphasise the ways in which globalisation 'impacts' upon 'the local' and erases cultures, by asking whether, in certain contexts, the nexus between globalisation and neoliberalism can promote 'progressive' agendas. We examine the privatisation of the water industry in Bolivia and chart how, in this industry, neoliberalism and globalisation are coming together in new ways and are creating new, and sometimes conflicting, institutional and geographical contexts through which water resources must now be viewed. These issues are examined through the example of Misicuni, a big-dam project in the province of Cochabamba. The debates around this project raise a series of questions. What roles do cultural understandings of water play in contemporary regional and national constructions of 'modernisation' in Bolivia? Are processes of globalisation and privatisation in the water industry strengthening or weakening marginalised regional identities in the Andes? Is neoliberal hegemony being promoted in the region as a result of privatisation or is the restructuring of the water industry facilitating the emergence of alternative development discourses of resistance

Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Globalization · Hegemony · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Restructuring · Sociology · Water Governance and Infrastructure