Water Privatization Trends in the United States: Human Rights, National Security, and Public Stewardship
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Current debates in U.S. law and politics seem to be questioning whether national security and human rights are in fundamental tension with each other, as our legal and political systems struggle with the scope of government powers to fight terrorism and the legal limits on the detention, interrogation, and punishment of suspected terrorists, such as those held at Guantanamo Bay, among other issues.1 This Article will address an area of law and public policy in which the shared (or common) interests of both national security and human rights receive too little attention.It is the area of privatization of water and public water services and infrastructure.The Article will focus on water privatization trends in the United States.In particular, it will discuss three aspects of water privatization in the U.S.: 1) the privatization of public water services, 2) private property rights in water, and 3) water as a consumer commodity.These trends arise in the context of global water privatization trends and the opposition of human rights advocates and environmentalists to private corporate exploitation of water for profit.They arise in the context of the legal and socio-cultural history of private property rights in the United States.
Author: Craig Anthony Arnold
Institution: University of Louisville
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1548573374