BOOKS
Slow Harms and Citizen Action (Oxford University Press, 2024) chronicles the struggle against toxic exposure in urban Latin America. Comparing advocacy movements for river pollution remediation in the capital regions of Argentina, Colombia, and Peru, the book explains how citizen-led efforts helped create environmental governance through networks that included impacted communities (bonding mobilization) and resourced allies (bridging mobilization). Through bonding and bridging mobilization, citizen advocacy for slow harms activated the state’s regulatory capacity. Moreover, the most successful environmental movements occurred in settings where established human rights movements had previously helped dismantle state-sponsored militarized violence. By unpacking human rights movements as thoroughfares for environmental activism, Slow Harms and Citizen Action sheds new light on the struggles for environmental justice in Latin America.
“This fascinating study provides important conceptual tools for understanding how networks and social capital build commitments and connections, and how those, in turn, help address pervasive environmental justice problems in South American cities.” — Rebecca Neaera Abers, University of Brasilia
“Slow Harms and Citizen Action masterfully unravels the complex dynamics of environmental policy reform in South America. A timely work that will shape our understanding of environmental justice for years to come.” — Isabella Alcañiz, University of Maryland
“A must read for anyone interested in the complex politics of environmental outcomes in Latin America and beyond.” — Kathryn Hochstetler, London School of Economics and Political Science
“Drawing novel links between histories of political violence and contemporary environmental mobilization, Slow Harms and Citizen Action illuminates divergent trajectories of contemporary urban politics in Latin America.” — Hillel Soifer, Temple University
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Most of the world’s population lives in cities in developing countries, where access to basic public services, such as water, electricity, and health clinics is either inadequate or sorely missing. Water and Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2017) shows how politicians benefit politically from manipulating public service provision for electoral gain. In many young democracies, politicians exchange water service for votes or political support, rewarding allies or punishing political enemies. Surprisingly, the political problem of water provision has become more pronounced, as water service represents a valuable political currency in resource-scarce environments. Water and Politics finds that middle-class and industrial elites play an important role in generating pressure for public service reforms.
“Water and Politics brings new empirical insight and understanding about the provision of public services through the experience of water and sanitation reforms in Mexico following democratization. Its analysis is relevant for academics, policymakers, government leaders, and development practitioners alike.”
— Environment & Urbanization
“Herrera has written an important book. It illuminates a crucial and hitherto undiscovered dynamic in a crucial policy domain.”
— Latin American Politics and Society
“A refreshing effort to unravel the issue of why young democracies can bring about either modern, accountable, and effective governments or deficient, unreliable, and clientelistic ones.”
— Perspectives on Politics