The North–South politics of necessity: regulating for basic rights between national and international levels

The paper explores three key initiatives at the international level in relation to access to water that demonstrate a convergence between consumerism, markets and a right of access to basic goods and essential services. It argues that these initiatives are an instance of a regulatory politics that is increasingly the common coin of debates about providing basic necessities in the context of a strong policy preference for market-based systems of provision. The paper begins with an overview of some key contemporary policy issues relating to access to water, followed by a conceptual analysis of how these issues link regulation, markets and rights. The second half of the paper draws an empirical map of current developments in the area, focusing in particular on the political implications—both explicit and implicit—of the global politics of necessity for relationships between developed and developing countries.