Global: Shields and swords

Using or creating a new law is only the first step in what must be a longer political struggle to provide genuinely democratic forms of public water provision. As such, legal campaigns must also strive toward building frameworks for regulating, maintaining and monitoring progressive management of services after they become public. In addition, dedicated and committed activism is more critical to the success of campaigns than the legal tools themselves. These are two of the findings of a paper from the Municipal Services Project which examines how effective legal strategies have been in activism against the privatisation of water.