The Age of Commodity: Water Privatization in Southern Africa.

• Author: Fisher, Alex M.
• Position: FURTHER READING - Book review

THE AGE OF COMMODITY: WATER PRIVATIZATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

David A. McDonald and Greg Ruiters, eds.

(Sterling, Va.: Earthscan, 2005), 303 pages.

Editors David McDonald and Greg Ruiters provide a comprehensive review of South Africa's water management systems in their compiled volume, The Age of Commodity: Water Privatization in Southern Africa. Their analysis of the relationship between water consumers and those responsible for water management raises broad questions about social relationships, the flow of capital and economic policy. Pursuing such an inquiry is crucial in understanding the broader motivations of financial capital as water resources play a central economic role. The authors, representing a wide range of expertise, explore the phenomena of water privatization through the scope of international trade agreements, regional multilateral bodies and national legislative infrastructure.

The book's progression relies on the initial chapter, wherein the conceptual framework for analysis is established through a definition of privatization. Defined in this book in a limited sense, privatization occurs when the state disinvests from water systems. The editors argue that corporatization and commodification of water resources transform economic and social relations. They support this theory with case studies. From Durban's efforts as the...