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Abstract

Popular water movements were a crucial part of the rise of left social forces and governments in Latin America, and in Uruguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador, in particular, they set new agendas. An examination of the relation between social movements and left governments in the search for post-neoliberal pathways in the water sector reveals political experimentation with contradictory results. Structural dependencies and the failure to develop, through the politics of the left turn, state-society relations conducive to sector transformation limit the scope of maneuver for alternatives. A radical politics of mass mobilization has been indispensable in water reforms. Likewise, effective implementation of alternatives to neoliberalism requires, even at the risk of ongoing conflict, interaction between movements and governments that respects the autonomy of the people, reduces predominant capitalist dependencies, and transforms the state.

Los movimientos populares por el agua constituyeron una parte crucial del auge de gobiernos y fuerzas sociales de izquierda en América Latina, y en Uruguay, Bolivia y Ecuador, en particular, fijaron nuevas agendas. Un examen de la relación entre movimientos sociales y gobiernos de izquierda en la búsqueda de caminos post-neoliberales en el sector del agua revela experimentación política con resultados contradictorios. Las dependencias estructurales e incapacidad de desarrollar, a través de las políticas del giro a la izquierda, relaciones estado-sociedad que conducían a transformaciones sectoriales limitan el campo de maniobra para alternativas. Una política radical de movilización masiva ha sido indispensable en las reformas del agua. Asimismo, una implementación efectiva de alternativas al neoliberalismo requiere interacción, aun a riesgo de conflicto continuo, entre movimientos y gobiernos que respeta la autonomía del pueblo, reduce dependencias capitalistas predominantes, y transforma el estado.

Keywords

Social movements Water sector reform Alternatives to neoliberalism Left governments Latin America

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Social Movements,Left Governments,and the Limits of Water Sector Reform in Latin America’s Left Turn

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