Development distopia in brazilian northeast Brazil

the context of public water policies

Abstract

An analysis of the socio-historical formation of the northeastern semiarid reveals the processes of establishment of power relations in local political and economic organizations. These relations, based on the transformations experienced in the territories of the region, through public policies, are presented in a naturalized, fragmented manner, and are part of the constitutive elements of reproducing the problem of drought from the “drought phenomenon”. In this text, from a literature review on the socioeconomic construction of the northeastern semiarid, and a documentary analysis about the state actions around the water issue currently in this reality, we aim to reflect on the constitution of water policy, more specifically, as state actions regarding water supply have historically contributed to the so-called Northeastern Semiarid Development. We consider that such development historically exclusively contemplates the interests of the holders of power, hence the interests of local capital, with water being an element of the unequally appropriated nature in favor of such interests. Thus, as a result and proposition of this analysis, we consider as fundamental the possibility of mitigating inequalities in water access in the Semiarid through the construction of a democratic process to the implementation of water policies, which means the search for the social participation of the populations and the organization of territories in the structuring of river basin committees, seeking the integrated construction of water planning, valuing the particularities of that reality.

Keywords: Northeast Semiarid. State Actions. Water Policy. Development. Democratization of Access.