Customer Reviews

Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water

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There are not many surprises in BLUE GOLD. The primary message of Maud Barlow and Tony Clarke's book echoes the Blue Planet Project, a global campaign to assert the universal right to water, of which Barlow is one of the international leaders. It is the 'battle against the corporate world' - here in particular the 'theft of the world's water'. Of course, it is not so much a 'theft' of water - the world's water supply has been more or less stable since the beginning of time - rather the increasing control by a small group of multinationals over the water's allocation to the peoples of this planet.

Consequently, the strength of the book is in its coverage of the multi-national corporations, the 'Global Water Lords', and the exposure of their expanding power over water delivery and processing systems around the globe. Initiatives to privatize water delivery at a national level probably started with Napoleon III in France in the middle of the 19th century. At that time, governments were usually in charge of water management. Since then privatization has spread from France to the rest of the world. Today, Barlow and Clarke maintain, some 10 corporate players dominate the global water industry. Two French companies hold the lion's share. Most of these major players are multi-utility providers, which increase their hold on the water resources of countries and regions. Once a government opens a door to privatization of any of the water related services, such as water delivery or waste management, it abandons its right to take back control at any stage even if water user groups complain about bad or no service or the company does not live up to the contract. The rules and regulations of the WTO see to that, the authors claim. Although the percentage of national water systems controlled by multi-national corporations at the present time is small, Barlow and Clarke want to warn of the trend and its implication.

Examples are described where things have gone wrong: poor quality of project implementation resulted in water pollution and environmental damage, and/or communities and local business lost the water supply altogether. In these instances corporate water suppliers maintained their profit margin through cutting back in previously promised investments and/or increasing consumer rates. The latter was implemented without any regard to the capacity of the poor to pay. As a result, they could be cut off from the service.

Barlow and Clarke's analysis of the progression of the global water crisis and its origins is less satisfactory. A reader unfamiliar with complex topic of water might find the tour d'horizon overwhelming. The review of the diversity of root causes at local, national and regional levels is superficial and tends to present generalizations where concrete examples would have been more meaningful. The tendency to paint a black and white picture with big business as the main villain sidelines other major reasons for water crises around the world. Agriculture is only mentioned in passing, although some 70% of all water resources are used by agriculture: agribusiness and millions of small-scale and mid-size farmers across industrialized and developing countries. Implementing water conservation methods (through improved irrigation, drought tolerant crops, etc) could lead to substantial water resource savings.

Recent initiatives against global corporate water control highlighted in the section 'Fightback' are selective, emphasizing well-known international as well as North American cases. The approach is usually confrontational with clearly identified opposing sides. Examples of constructive multi-stakeholder collaboration efforts in many parts of the world which attempt to tackle water scarcity are not given enough recognition.
The 'Way Forward' spells out fundamental principles and recommends a series of standards that should be included in any agreement of public-private partnerships in the water delivery sphere. These include the involvement of water users in the planning of the systems, local stewardship and watershed protection, strengthen water preservation and reclaiming of polluted water systems. Underlying all these standards is the recognition of water as an essential part of life and the right of all beings to water whatever their social or economic status. A call for capacity building and education of consumers, communities, government officials and private sector actors at all levels should be added.

BLUE GOLD is an easy read, maybe for some too easy considering the seriousness of the topic. It covers very important ground, often in an overview fashion that tends to generalize and take a black and white stand. Although it is obvious that the authors did comprehensive research in preparation of the book, it shows a certain lack of thoroughness by not providing citation references (footnotes), adequate source listings and a bibliography or reading list.

While the growing scarcity of fresh water on the earth is an important topic for all peoples, "Blue Gold" does a poor job of elevating the reader's knowledge of the facts surrounding this crisis. This book offers few hard, cited facts and is riddled with common errors that undermine the authors' credibility. The multitude of miscalculations, editing errors, and sweeping generalizations reduce the strength of the book, and more importantly (and perhaps tragically) the perceived validity of the overall premise.

Admittedly, I read only half of this book. As an environmentalist and avid reader of scientific texts, I could not tolerate filling my frame of reference with facts that appear to be based on conjecture. Statements similar to, "someday the earth will not have enough water for everyone" are simply too vague and serve only to provide a platform for criticism and eventual debunking of theories that may actually be valid and essential.

I also had difficulty reading through the constant conversions between miles and kilometers, liters and gallons, etc. The authors would have been wise to select a standard for measurements to be used throughout rather than provide vice-versa conversions by the truckload.

I hesitate to criticize this book, as there are few available that address critical environmental topics at all. But to prepare such a poor assemblage of "facts" and what reads more like hype than anything else is a disservice to the reader and to the cause of water conservation. If I can't use the material I read in an intelligent conversation or debate, then what use is it? "Blue Gold" is a huge disappointment and borders on irresponsible with its mediocre treatment of this important issue.

Blue Gold succeeds at correlating the issue of dwindling fresh water supplies with the increasing power of multinational corporations. The book also suggests what needs to be done to secure a water-rich future for the world.

Barlow and Clarke begin their analysis by discussing the shortcomings of many publicly-owned water systems, where the use of science and technology have overwhelmed the carrying capacity of the earth. The author's description of Mexico City literally sinking into the ground as underground water supplies are pumped to exhaustion is frightening.

But private ownership of water will not rectify the situation. If the corporations' purpose is to serve shareholder interests, the authors argue, how can anyone suppose that water resources will be managed sustainably or equitably by them? Indeed, the book provides many examples of corporate projects that threaten to deplete local fresh water supplies in order to provide (short-lived) profits for investors.

Yet, Barlow and Clarke show that schemes to transfer control to corporations are often promoted by the World Bank and other institutions that champion multinational capital investments. This should not be too surprising, as water infrastructures are not unlike other publicly-held assets that have become favorite targets of the investment community (disguised under the banner of "deregulation") in recent years.

While making a compelling case that growing corporate influence can only make a bad situation worse, the authors spend several chapters discussing how people can begin to constructively address the situation and turn it around for the better. These sections in particular are thoughtful and are obviously written by persons who have spent a great amount of time on this issue. Far from being merely a "screed" (as the reviewer from the pro-business Cahner's reviews claimed), I found the author's thoughts in these later chapters to be mature, balanced, and humane. Water, as a necessity for life, might indeed be the one issue that unites people around issues of social, economic and environmental justice.

I highly recommend this book for readers interested in learning more about an issue that will undoubtedly become increasingly important in the future.

Compared with Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert or Marq de Villiers Water I found Blue Gold to be relatively poorly researched, presenting only the authors' point-of-view rather than a thoughtful analysis of the world water situation. The authors failed to convince me that "public" (government) control of water distribution would be better than private control; after all, the government in the U.S. has a very poor record of equitable distribution, especially through Bureau of Reclamation projects. A private distribution system modeled after our natural gas distribution system, with a regulatory board setting prices and two-tier pricing (cheap baseline rates plus higher rates for use above baseline amounts) could perhaps work, but was not discussed by the authors.
I think, also, that the editing was somewhat poor: Does California factory-farm runoff really leak into the Ogallala aquifer (p. 34)? Did the FBI really order reservoir gates closed in Klamath Falls (p.65)?
Overall, I think better books are available that discuss the water issue in a less biased manner.

Blue Gold's a book to let you know more about where your water in America is going. Can we stop this theft of our most valuable resource. A study reports huge corporations seeking control of the world's water supply. These involve giant European corporations in collaboration with the World Bank. Together increasingly taking control of public water supplies with tragic results. a report 'The Water Barons' says that by 2002 private water companies were operating in 56 countries and 2 territories. This rose from a dozen in 1990. Companies that are expanding control are Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux and Vivendi Environment of France, Thomas Water by RWEAG of Germany, Suar of France and United Utilities of England working with Bechtel Co. of the United States. All of these have worked closely with the World Bank. They lobby aggressively for legislation and trade laws to require cities to privatize their water. A recent update is that these companies continue in their acquisition to control water companies in the Northeastern U.S. region.

In major cities around the world, they persuade governments to sign long-term contracts with major private water companies. The concern, is that a handful of private companies could soon control a tremendous bulk of the world's most vital resource. Are water barons providing a good product? One certain city in the U.S. cancelled it's water contract because of complaints of poor service and unsanitary water conditions. In other countries and poorer countries were unable to pay huge water bills were forced to drink from disease-ridden lakes and streams resulting the spread of deadly epidemic outbreaks such as chlorea. In regions of the U.S. where ground water isn't enough to support domestic and fire protection water needs. It's necessary to develop alternative sources of water. The water crisis is worldwide. Many countries are facing a severe shortage. Some will run out of water by the year 2011. Can we find alternative ways to conserve our greatest resource. And, in the meantime can we stop the railroading of public water to greedy giant corporate barons. This book is a eye-opener. Another good reading on this subject is, 'Cadillac Desert.'

Maude Barlow's "Blue Gold" is an eye opening book that helps us to see what is happening to our water. Slowly but surely, the ownership of our world's water, including water many of us drink at home, is falling under the control of private ownership. When this occurs, it is very tempting for greedy owners to increase the price any time they wish. Since there is usually no alternative for obtaining water, we as users are forced to pay or end up being cut off. This is not joke - because it has already happened in some places, and will happen more often as we enter a future of scarce water.
We are at a time in history where humankind's management of water will determine what life forms live and die on the face of our earth, including other humans. What ecosystems have water to sustain their life forms; what farms receive water to produce food for our escalating populations; what suburbs and cities receive water to continue growing while quenching the thirst of their rising populations; what manufacturers receive water to produce consumer goods - will all be determined by those who control or own the rights to water.
Over the past 30 years I have read hundreds of books on water - Barlow's book is one of the best when it comes to alerting us to the dangers of monopolistic control and ownership of our earth's waters. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about their children and our human civilization. Water is one of the basic rights any human being should have reasonable access to. Without water - you cannot live. What price you are willing to pay may soon be determined by owners who live in other countries and who could care less about your so called `rights" to have water.
I see "Blue Gold" as a wake up call for all of us. It is only by being informed that we will be able to protect ourselves from being victimized.

This book is a wake up call. The healthy debate about who controls human genes is now firmly in the public mind - but what about the other 70% of the body? Water has been a major factor shaping the politics in the Middle East, but it may become like that everywhere. Never-mind the energy crisis, we should be talking about the water crisis.

Please read this - water is shaping up to being one of the biggest issues in our world.

I read the authors' more recent Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water yesterday and watched the also more recent Blue Gold: World Water Wars last night, all in the context of raeding 12 books on water I bought for a UNESCO project I had to drop from when I joined the UN in Guatemala (which I am leaving 31 August).

This is a six-star and beyond foundation work, and even though I continue to think that Marq de Villier's Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource is the original tour d'force (published in 2001), and that the The Water Atlas: A Unique Visual Analysis of the World's Most Critical Resource is still the best buy over-all, this book joins with Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit as a foundation contribution. The authors received the Right Livelihood Award, called the Alternative Nobel, for the work that this book represents, so I urge readers to dismiss the ideologically-rooted and intellectually dishonest appraisals of this book as leftist pap.

Published in 2002, this book is more of an overview briefing, and it does that very well. I learn early on:

+ 70% of the water service market has been captured by corporations--I have a note to myself that this parallels what the oil and automobile magnates did to public transport--bought it all up, killed it, and then pushed highways and petrol-guzzling cars as the "only" alternative.

+ Bottled water coast 1,100 times what tap water costs [other studies point out bottle water is by no means safe, and that the water used to create the plastic bottle is much much greater in quantity than the water contained in the bottle.

Three organizations making a difference:

01 Public Service International
02 Global Water Contract
03 Friends of the Earth International

I learn that in 2004 a Peoples' World Water Movement got started, and later on in the book, that fighting back is working.

Other great stuff that made it to my notes:

+ Watersheds come in nested families, difficult to diagnose one watershed removed impact on yours
+ The problem surprised the public because it was left to the experts and not made a matter of PUBLIC discussion
+ Solution, apart from establishing clean water as a human right within a humam commons, to restructure society and our lifestyle, and of course this is addressed to the one billion rich not the five billion poor. Here I want to mention the work of Robert Ackoff of Penn State University and John N. Warfield of George Mason University, I am among their acolytes and a number of us are now "surging" on the need for both collective intelligence and public access to all information in all languages all the time.
+ Need a global treaty initiative to make water a global commons.
+ We have lost touch with indigenous knowledge, for an in-depth treatment of this see 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

The broad challenges are two primary and two secondary (major and minor did not seem right):

PRIMARY: Population explosion AND explosion in use of water per person
SECONDARY: Breaking of hydrolic cycle (losing 1% a year) AND sewage into water raising the stakes

Among the individuals that the authors identify (one reason I read books) are:

01 Michal Kravcik of Slovakia on the hydrological cycle
02 David Suzuki of Canada on "exponential environmental destruction (Club of Rome got it right, and so does the UN High Level Panel on Threats, Challenge, and Change in their report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change but see also the easier to grasp book by J. F. Rischard, High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
03 Sandra Postel with the WorldWatch Institute, whose latest book I just reviewed, State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability (State of the World)
04 Peter Gleik et al of the Pacific Institute, a force in himself, I just reviewed what is "the" reference every two years, The World's Water 2008-2009: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources
05 Emerita Ursula Franklin of Canada, on "standpoints" (see QUOTE at end of review)

Other points that caught my attention:

+ Other species extinctions are 100X to 1000X the "norm" before humans became industrial and predatory
+ Threats to water include toxic run off, deforestation, global warming, invasive species, over-irrigation and unsustainable agriculture, and dams. Here I want to recommend two books, Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy and also High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health--the computer industry, not all the other industries, in the primary creator of "Super Fund" toxic sites.

I like the authors' survey of the nature of the human crisis, and their headings say it all--this is a perfect book for undergraduate study and useful to graduates outside the water domain as well.

+ Lethal Waters
+ Unequal Access (most do not realize that poverty, like disabilities, impairs diversity of thinking coming into the future)
+ Elite Privilege
+ Food Scarcity (diversion of water to biofuels and other needs)
+ Dam fall out (I learn that schistosomiasis and other parasites thrive)
+ Wars Wars
+ Energy drain of water
+ Privatization

Bottom line is that governments no longer represent the public interest, and the "everything for sale" mentality, combined with the unethical and intellectually unsupportable World Bank, WTO, and IMF positions on "international competitiveness," are looting the Third World as well as the Western world of water.

Strangely to me the author does not focus on corruption, which has become a primary focus on my life, not only dishonesty in taking bribes, but dishonesty in allowing data pathologies and information asymmetries to persist against the public interest (e.g. true cost economics not being demanded nor supported by governments).

This is probably the best book treatment of the global conquest by Suez, Viendi, Enron (RIP), RWE-Thames, and E.ON, of the world's water, and I am just blown away by how complacent people--including ostensibly educated people in the USA heartland--are allowing all this to happen. Will companies own the air next? Buy clean air? We have reached a tipping point, and the authors address that at the end of the book.

The author reviews the means by which the water cycle is being corrupted, including pipelines, supertankers, grand canals, water bags (for when whaling is off-season, let's start ripping these up), and bottled water, which combines theft with pollution, but see Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog for the piece on the Japanese invention that now turns plastic back into oil.

Precautionary Principle anyone? I do not see this anywhere, and that is consistent with governments worldwide, from national to local levels, abdicating their responsibility to act in the public interest. Three books recommended here: Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing The Precautionary Principle; Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War; and Corruption and Anti-Corruption: An Applied Philosophical Approach (Basic Ethics in Action).

The chapter on global nexus presents the integrated fashion in which the corporations have "bought" the UN and its new water agencies, the World Bank, WTO, IMF, and also regional trade regimes and regional banks.

The chapter on fighting back is useful and probably needs to be a new book in the near term all on its own, beyond Blue Covenant. Perhaps the authors could take street-fighting lessons from Lori Wollach.... The authors cover movements to regain public control, fight privatization, block water exports (this strikes me as HUGE and under-focused), fighting water contamination (e.g. hog farms), restoring water systems, stopping dams, and--the subject of what I hope will be a new book, the internationalization of the struggle with one big change: use water to build that movement, and then immediately expand it to focus on holistic eradication of the ten high level threats to humanity through the public orchestration of information and spending and behavior across the twelve core policies, water being the twelfth. More on this at Phi beta Iota and originally at the Earth Intelligence Network.

QUOTE (205): "A standpoint, explains Dr. Franklin, is an ethical framework that informs one's purpose and one's work. ... A standpoint brings a sense of priority, a sense of proportion, and a sense of obligation. Having the courage to find a place to stand, and if necessary, fight for what you believe, is required before any person or movement can effect real social change."

In the USA this means to me both the end of the two-party tyranny, and the end of the Federal Reserve/Treasury Congressional looting of the public purse on behalf of Wall Street. The Bush-Obama bail-out of Wall Street instead of freezing foreclosures and evictions can only be understood if one sees that the White House is the servant of Wall Street, and not at all acting in the public interest--regardless of which party is in power. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by non-violent Electoral Reform.

The book concludes with a focus on water as a commons demanding stewardship, equality, and universality, and three lists, two on how to achieve water peace and one with ten steps to water security--buy the book, it is still relevant, still valuable, still a foundation work.

Amazon limits links to ten, so the 12 water books I am reviewing are best accessed directly via Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog. The last three, the most dense, are the severely over-priced and therefore not recommended The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water, unillustrated but brilliant Governing Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building (Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation); and the historical Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization.

Blue Gold is extremely easy reading replete with abundant data and reasons why private corporations should not be allowed to provide public services. While there is no doubt that private enterprise has failed in some cases and has been guilty of unseemly business practices, the authors completely ignore the dismal failure and inability of government to develop and manage water supplies. Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, convinced their citizens that the Sangre de Cristo water company was poorly run and the water was too expensive. Since they took it over, service has been downhill and costs have been uphill. Readers are urged to use google to determine the Santa Fe water woes. The book provides a specious look at the Walkerton, Ontario affair, a publicly run water system, by saying the E. Coli outbreak was the fault of a private laboratory because they only reported what the government required. Other examples of poorly run public systems are too numerous to mention including Dar es Salam, Nairobi, Cochabamba and many others.

The book is a pleasant and informative read but must be read with the understanding that the authors are completely opposed to any private involvement in the production and distribution of water. They make the mistake of equating the operation of a water system with the ownership of the resource. They make the mistake or would like the reader to believe that the cost of water is actually the cost of water. It is not. When we refer to the cost of water it is really the annualized amortation of the capital infrastructure cost and the annual operation and maintenance cost. There are very few situations where the water is sold as a resources, San Diego, El Paso, and San Antonio being a few recent examples. So to say water is like oil is misdirection.

The authors also would lead readers to believe that bottled water is bad. In actual fact, bottling companies are held to the same standard as municipal systems for water quality.

The authors are strongly opposed to the bulk water export from Canada or from anywhere else. Those who propose such schemes could not make their proposals unless there were an uneven distribution of water on earth and their proposals are sometimes received favorably by governments such as Israel in their proposal to temporarily import 50 million cubic meters for 10 years until their desalination plants are up and running.

This excellent book makes the case for public ownership and control over our water services.
In the past ten years, three giant global corporations, France's Suez and Vivendi Environnement, and Thames, have seized control over the water supplied to almost 300 million people in every continent. Vivendi increased its water revenue from $5 billion in 1990 to over $12 billion by 2002, RWE from $25 million in 1990 to $2.5 billion in 2002.
These companies claim to be `passionate, caring and reliable', yet they push for higher rate increases, frequently fail to meet their commitments and abandon a waterworks if they are not making enough money. As Suez's Chief Executive Officer said, "Water is an efficient product. It is a product which normally would be free, and our job is to sell it." In France, charges for privatised water services are 13% higher than for public services.
For two months in 1998, after privatisation, more than three million residents of Sydney were forced to boil their drinking water to kill parasites. Fifteen months after the city of Adelaide signed a contract turning over its waterworks to Thames Water and Vivendi, the city was engulfed in a powerful sewage smell, `the big pong'.
New Jersey, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Manila and Jakarta have all experienced problems after privatisation. In 1996 Hamilton in Canada experienced its worst-ever sewage spill, when 48 million gallons of untreated human waste, heavy metals and chemicals flooded into Lake Ontario. Atlanta, Georgia, gave control over its water to Suez five years ago, and quality and service dropped. The city returned control to the public utility.
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, after Aguas del Tunari, a Bechtel subsidiary, took control of the city's waterworks in 1999, it raised water bills 100%. The contract allowed the company to close down people's private wells unless they paid Aguas del Tunari for the water. Union leader Oscar Olivera said, "They wanted to privatise the rain." The city's people organised a referendum. Most voted to end the contract and forced Bechtel out of the country. Similarly, in 2000 the people of Grenoble succeeded in returning their water and sewage system to public control.
In Iraq, the US state put Bechtel in charge of rebuilding the water and sewage systems. But, as the U.S. Agency for International Development reported, "Baghdad's three sewage treatment plants, which together comprise three-quarters of the nation's sewage treatment capacity, are inoperable, allowing the waste from 3.8 million people to flow untreated directly into the Tigris River." A UN survey in May 2004 found that 80% of families living in rural areas had no safe water. Only 64 of 249 planned water projects have been completed.
In 1999, South Africa initiated five water privatisation programs, aiming to make people pay the full cost of having running water in their homes. As Nelson Mandela had said, "Privatisation is the fundamental policy of our government. Call me a Thatcherite, if you will." Consequently, ten million South Africans had their water cut off for various periods, forcing people to get water from polluted rivers and lakes, leading to South Africa's worst outbreak of cholera. More than 140,000 people were infected and 265 died.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) says that 98% of whites, but only 27% of blacks, had access to clean water in their homes in March 2001. A smaller proportion of the population has access to water than in 1994. In rural areas, only 2% of blacks had indoor plumbing. Two million people have been evicted for not paying utility bills. Many poor families pay 30% of their income for water. Despite South Africa's rating by the United Nations Development Index as a middle-to-upper-income country, one child in 22 dies before reaching the age of one, often from diarrhoea caused by poor water. The 13% white minority is 18th on the Human Development Index, equal to New Zealand. The black majority is 118th, in line with Bolivia. Of all the countries in the world, only Guatemala has a wider gap between rich and poor.
In 2004, the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation concluded its study of privatisations in sub-Saharan Africa, "profit-maximizing behaviour has led privatised companies to keep investments below the necessary levels, with the result that rural communities and the urban poor were further marginalised."
The European Commission has been driving privatisation of all our utilities, and its new EU-wide water regulations should mean fat new contracts for the water giants. Since 1998, Vivendi and Suez, backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, have secured water concessions in at least 23 major cities and districts in Eastern Europe.
The big three are also moving into the USA, buying its largest private water utility companies. They have increased their lobbying and federal election campaign spending. In Washington, they have already secured beneficial tax law changes and are now trying to persuade Congress to pass laws that would force cash-strapped municipal governments to privatise their waterworks in exchange for federal grants and loans.
Water, like air, is a necessity of human life. It must not be treated as what Fortune magazine calls, "One of the world's great business opportunities. It promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th: a precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations." By 2002, the six most globally active water companies ran drinking water distribution networks in at least 56 countries, up from 12 in 1990. Yet private companies still run only about 5% of the world's waterworks.
In 1989, Blair wrote, "The major utilities - gas, water, electricity and the oil, postal and telecommunications networks - are uniquely important to the national economy. Their operations underpin the rest of industry. We believe that the great utilities must be treated as public services and should be owned by the public - by the community as a whole."
Public utilities offer better, cheaper and fairer water services than private firms. Countries need to keep water in public hands, under democratic control.