Private Water,Public Good: Water Privatization and State Capacity in Chile

In the global policy debate over whether water services in developing countries should remain public or be privatized, advocates for privatization call for reducing the role of the state in water services, while civil society groups argue that privatization violates the human right to water. This article examines water privatization in Chile, a crucial case in the debate over the role of markets and states in water services. Chile is known as a water privatization success story due to its high coverage of drinking water and sanitation under a fully privatized system. The article addresses two questions: How effectively does Chile meet the standard for fulfilling the human right to water within the privatized system? To what extent has privatization in Chile reduced the role of the state in water service provision? I find that the human right to water, narrowly defined, is fulfilled in Chile; however, this outcome is not attributable to the merits of privatization. Chile’s strong state capacity to govern the water sector in the public interest by embedding reforms in state interventions explains the relative success of the Chilean water sector. These findings support the argument that a strong state role is necessary to fulfill the human right to water, even in a privatized water sector.