Water is arguably the most critical resource on Earth and vital to our daily survival. Yet, unequal access to potable water is a pressing challenge facing African cities, such as Accra. Having identified market-driven policies as the cause and democratic consensus on urban water policy as the solution, scholars have emphasized that democratic political systems and, in particular, active civic participation holds the prospect for ameliorating the water shortages caused by the neoliberal policy framework that dictates water policies in urban Africa. However, this scholarship fetishizes the liberating effects of civil society and fails to appreciate how the differential capacities and institutional structures of states shape urban water policy decisions and access across democratic regimes. How state dynamics with civil society shape market-led urban water policies, why institutional difference and capacity to deliver matters, and what it means for water policy coordination and change is the subject of my talk. Based on his ongoing study of one community in Accra, Ghana, Isaac Asante-Wusu argues that understanding these three factors in tandem is crucial for understanding the prospect and limits of civic agency for combating unequal access to potable water across urban Africa.

Kaltura

About the Speaker

Isaac Asante-Wusu

Isaac Asante-Wusu is a PhD candidate in the department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota, specializing in water and development, democratic urban citizenship and distributive politics, development theory and the State, neoliberalism and economic globalization, political economies of globalization, urban planning, and Africa more generally. He earned his master's degree in Geography from Miami University and his Bachelor of Science degree in Development Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Interdisciplinary Research Colloquium

The Interdisciplinary Research Colloquium series offers informal lectures and discussions on current research projects by ICGC Scholars, affiliated faculty, visiting scholars, and practitioners. These events are open to the public. Guests are welcome to bring their lunches and eat during the sessions.