Policy networks and social resistance to water privatization in Latin America

The paper looks at civil society campaigns against water privatisation in six Latin American countries, resulting in both success and failure. Our inquiry aims at contributing to the understanding of the determinants of social movement outcomes. We explain variations in outcome as a result of interrelations between: a) agency; b) mobilisation tactics; c) political opportunity structures; and, d) network composition (i.e. the composition of coalitions promoting the campaigns). Our findings indicate that the strengthening of coalitions is a significant determinant of successful outcome. The combined effect of network size and heterogeneity of the coalition contributes to the representativeness, cohesion and effectiveness of the campaigns.