Privatisation - Property And The Remaking Of Nature-Society Relations

Contemporary privatization remakes nature-society as property and transforms people’s relationships to themselves, each other, and the natural world. This groundbreaking collection provides the first systematic analysis of neo-liberal privatization. Rich case studies of privatization in the making reveal both the pivotal role that privatization plays in neoliberalism and new opportunities for challenging neo-liberal hegemony.
Rich case studies linked to broader questions on neoliberalism
Illustrates the importance of property relation and the complexities existing in the meaning and practice of property
Extends current geographical scholarship on neoliberalism –including neoliberalism and nature
Each essay touches on the disciplinary, regulatory dimensions of privatization
Highlights the importance of privatization, both broadly and specifically

Becky Mansfield is an Associate Professor of Geography at Ohio State University. She has published widely on the political and cultural economy of nature, with a particular focus on neo-liberalization of natural resources and the role of nature in economic processes. Mansfield is currently researching the making of bodies of scientific knowledge regarding the environmental effects of agro-food production.

This collection is both complex and thought provoking. This book offers a much needed critical edge to exploring the contested space characterized by the co-modification of nature and the remaking of nature society relations as property. (International Journal of Social Welfare , July 2009)
"Examining the labyrinthine logics and strange confusions of privatization, the work in these pages is filled with fascinating surprises. Whether revealing the hidden political opportunities in food labeling, the ironic labor required in price 'discovery' for wetlands, or the many hidden non-capitalist practices of working fishermen, this work is both exciting and useful. Mansfield and company point urgently to where future progressive activism might finally get some real traction."
–Paul Robbins, University of Arizona
"Theoretically rich, empirically challenging and politically engaging, this groundbreaking collection significantly advances debates about neoliberalism, privatisation and property. Rejecting easy generalisations about changing nature-society relations, the book brings together innovative scholars who highlight the complexity of contemporary developments without closing down possibilities for more equitable futures. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in political economy, political ecology and environmental policy."
–Wendy Larner, University of Bristol

Introduction: Becky Mansfield.
1. The Fictions of Autonomous Invention: Accumulation by Dispossession, Commodification and Life Patents in Canada (Scott Prudham).
2. The 'Commons' Versus the 'Commodity': Alter-globalization, Anti-privatization and the Human Right to Water in the Global South (Karen Bakker).
3. The Polanyian Way? Voluntary Food Labels as Neoliberal Governance (Julie Guthman).
4. Property, Markets, and Dispossession: The Western Alaska Community Development Quota as Neoliberalism, Social Justice, Both, and Neither (Becky Mansfield).
5. Discovering Price in All the Wrong Places: The Work of Commodity Definition and Price under Neoliberal Environmental Policy (Morgan Robertson).
6. The Difference that Class Makes: Neoliberalization and Non-Capitalism in the Fishing Industry of New England (Kevin St Martin).
7. Land Reform in the Time of Neoliberalism: A Many-Splendored Thing (Wendy Wolford).
Index.