Open AccessAccumulation by Any Means: Neoliberalisation and Environment in Post-Communist Europe
Author(s) -
Frederik Peters
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
review of european and russian affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1718-4835
DOI - 10.22215/rera.v4i1.193
Subject(s) - restructuring , context (archaeology) , communism , economy , political science , politics , communist state , economic system , economics , geography , archaeology , law
This paper explores water services restructuring in the post-communist Europe. The cases of the cities of St Petersburg, Russia and Tallinn, Estonia serve to trace changes in tone and timbre over the course of the post-communist transition to a market based economy. This paper is divided into two sections: we begin by placing the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the context of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund–the International Financial Institutions significantly involved with infrastructure rebuilding. Section Two presents a brief look at specific cases of municipal water restructuring in the Baltic Region in postcommunist transition period, 1991 – 2006, brokered and funded in part by EBRD money. Tracing investments and the strategic partnerships formed in the region by the EBRD sheds light onto the development of IFI capacity and strategy since the early 1990s. The politics behind the notion described in shorthand with Harvey’s reworking of the Marxian ‘Primitive Accumulation’ is crucial to understanding the dynamics and trends often apparent in water infrastructure restructuring.