Abstract

The provision of public goods and services is one of the fundamental functions of the state and is a clear gauge of the social contract between citizens and their government. In many developing countries, public goods delivery systems are unreliable, inefficient, and unequal in terms of distribution and access for lower-income citizens. As a result, public demonstrations and protest become an important tool for citizens to make their plight heard and to affect change. Focusing on this aspect of public goods delivery, this study follows the question: What are the aspects of privatization that cause some communities to experience lower levels of protest? Building off the work of several prominent scholars, this study analyzes an alternative way of thinking about privatization, specifically as a tool for citizens to express their preferences for public goods and service delivery. Additionally, this study analyzes whether municipalities that elect to engage in wholesale privatization experience lower incidences of protest. I hypothesize that municipalities that engage in privatization of water services experience lower levels of protest, and that this is especially visible in periods of scarcity. To test this hypothesis, this paper examines four examples in a subnational case study of Indian municipalities. Through an examination of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, protest statistics, and World Bank Private Participation in Infrastructure data, I searched for a significant difference in protest incidence. I initially find that the cases of privatization experienced lower levels of protest. However, upon further research, these cases provide an interesting and dynamic study into the complications of local governance and the difficulties of engaging in large-scale privatization.

Advisor

Haider, Erum

Department

Political Science

Disciplines

Comparative Politics

Keywords

India, Water, Privatization, Public Goods

Publication Date

2022

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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