Privatization

Book excerpt: This groundbreaking collection offers the first systematic analysis of neo-liberal privatization. Rich case studies reveal both the pivotal role that privatization plays in neoliberalism and innovative opportunities for challenging neo-liberal dominance. Leading scholars in the field shed new light on how property is created, justified, questioned and contested. Investigating the disciplinary, regulatory dimensions of privatization, the authors cover topics as diverse as land reform, fishing rights, and product labels. The anthology questions the dominant view of property as ownership by demonstrating various ways that it is practiced and the surprising outcomes contained in this diversity. Contemporary privatization is remaking nature-society as property. Privatization innovates and proliferates new forms of property such as patents for genetic information, markets for water, and tradable credits for polluting. In so doing, privatization transforms the relationships we have with ourselves, each other, and the natural world.