The Global Politics of Bottled Water

My talk at the 2016 International Studies Association.

Transcript

1. The Global Politics of Bottled
   Water: Towards an Integrative
   Research Agenda
   DR. RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
   CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIÓN Y DOCENCIA ECONÓMICAS (CIDE)
   INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION (ISA) 2016
   ATLANTA, GEORGIA, USA. MARCH 16TH, 2016
   

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4. Bottled water: A global environmental
   governance paradox
    Water should be a global human right (UN Resolution
   64/292, July 28, 2010)
    Yet, bottled water has grown to become one of the
   most profitable industries globally.
    Commodifying the human right to water (Pacheco-
   Vega 2015)
   

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5. Research Question
    How can we analyze bottled water within the
   context of a global environmental dynamics? and
    What analytical purchase do these approaches give
   us?
    global environmental politics
    comparative politics
    international relations
   

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6. Two interrelated bodies of literature
   Comparative Politics
    National patterns of bottled water
   sociopolitical dynamics
    Consumption
    Trading (domestic markets)
    Bottled water vs. soft drinks
    Comparisons of domestic
   regulations towards bottled water
    Extraction
    Distribution
    Marketing
   International relations
    Geopolitics
    Bottled water as a source of
   international/transnational conflict
    International political economy
    Global markets where packaged
   water trading occurs
    Norm diffusion (or NON-diffusion)
    Human right to water as a norm – is
   it conflicting with BW global
   acceptance?
   

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7. Transnationalism and bottled water
    Role of states in governing bottled water (IR)
    Role of non-state actors in the global governance of bottled water
    Two interrelated projects:
    Comparing environmental activism (comparative politics)
    against bottled water
    pro-tap water
    Transnational environmental coalition building or transnational activism (IR)
    Towards promoting HRW (HRW as an international norm that can be then pushed
   forward by environmental NGOs)
   

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8. HRW as a frame of meaning against
   privatization of water supply vs acceptance
   of bottled water (norm diffusion)
   

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9. HRW and BW from a domestic-
   international perspective
    Whereas previous conceptualizations of HRW focused on it as
   STRATEGY, I side with Mirosa and Harris (2012) in that we
   need to reconsider HRW as a framework for GOAL
   ATTAINMENT.
    Implementing the HRW will necessitate a focus on two
   simultaneous strategies:
   a) Remunicipalization of private water service delivery
   b) Regulation and control of the global bottled water industry across
   scales
   

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10. Thank you!
    Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD
    http://www.raulpacheco.org
    Twitter: @raulpacheco
    Facebook: DrPachecoVega
    E-mail: raul.pacheco-vega@cide.edu
    

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