Public water without (public) financial mediation? Remunicipalizing water in Valladolid, Spain

One of the primary impediments to the realisation and success of remunicipalisation can be financing. Not all remunicipalisations require additional funding, but the costs of bringing services back in-house can be enormous, preventing remunicipalisation efforts from getting off the ground and constraining what is possible once in place. This article discusses the conditions under which financing is necessary for remunicipalisation and examines a variety of (potential) sources of funding. It compares the financial needs of ‘pragmatic’ versus ‘transformative’ remunicipalisations and discusses the availability and suitability of different sources of financing for each. The paper also asks whether remunicipalisation provides an opportunity to ‘definancialise’ public services, exploring the pros and cons of different funding options in this regard, with a focus on the potential for public banks to play a role in reducing the influence of private finance in the public arena.

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Landscapes of Remunicipalization: A Critical Literature Review

McDonald

2024

Urban Affairs Review

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After four decades of privatization, remunicipalization has begun to reverse the trend. This policy phenomenon has been accompanied by a concomitant growth in academic writing on the topic, documenting a wide range of dynamics from different conceptual and methodological viewpoints, resulting in what many see to be a highly polarized debate. This article provides the first comprehensive review of this remunicipalization literature, providing critical insights into its schisms and overlaps, arguing that differences may not be as irreconcilable as some suggest, while also highlighting the need for an expanded scope of geographic and thematic research on the topic.

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Public water without (public) financial mediation? Remunicipalizing water in Valladolid, Spain

Cited by 3 publications

References 17 publications

Public banks, public water: exploring the links in Europe

Public banks, public water: exploring the links in Europe

(De)Financing remunicipalisation

Landscapes of Remunicipalization: A Critical Literature Review

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