Water, Infrastructure and Power: Contention and Resistance in Post‐colonial Cities of the South

Of water’s numerous functions, its social and political roles are perhaps the most intriguing and complex. Its intrinsic properties give it a singular capacity to foster cooperation and organization. Yet, its multiple uses and values make organization a complex and conflictive process. Nation states have overcome some of these organizational challenges. However, the task of establishing regimes that accommodate competing values of water and promote the sustainable use and equitable distribution of the substance has proved too great for most post-colonial states. Moreover, state expansion has created new tensions as modern water systems have displaced local forms of organization and knowledge, created new inequalities and transformed socio-ecological relations.