Abstract
This comparative study explores how environmental movements in two different political economies, the US state of Colorado and western Iran, have experienced and framed water transfer projects as a mechanism for the marketization of water. It applies Polanyi’s and Harvey’s theories, using interviews with diverse social groups and various secondary data sources. The results show that, according to both social movements, water’s marketization has some similarities in terms of the commodification and commercialization of water. Still, different processes, means and mechanisms are used. The article highlights these similarities and differences by looking at the state’s role in two different contexts: a capitalist democracy (the United States) and a capitalist centralized statist system (Iran). The study finds that while some outcomes might be the same in Colorado and Iran for achieving the marketization of water, the means that the state/market uses to achieve those ends are different.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 500-526 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Water International |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2023 |
Funding
This research enjoyed small grants from the School for Graduate Studies at Utah State University and the Mountain West Center. The author would like to thank Dr Peggy Petrzelka and Dr Christy Glass at Utah State University and Reagan Waskom at the Colorado Water Institute. The author also thanks all participants in this study, especially the Iranian participants who respected and trusted the author's request despite the political pressure and time zone difference.
Keywords
- Colorado
- Iran
- Marketization of water
- hydrosocial territories
- political economy
- water governance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Water Science and Technology
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
