SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This chapter argues consideration of the future for SOEs must be set in the context of broader transitions in the role of the (neoliberalised) state. These include processes of privatisation and financialisation as well as broader shifts in economic and social reproduction. The chapter has three sections. The first considers the challenges of foresight exercises, noting that outcomes from some privatisations have been far removed from those anticipated even for proponents. The second analyses forces that have shaped current SOEs’ status quo drawing on case studies of water and housing revealing both common trends and location and sector specificities. The third constructs a vision of two futures considering the implications of continuing on current trajectories before exploring circumstances under which alternative paths could unfold. Overall the chapter indicates that the organisation of economic and social reproduction has been transformed under globalised, financialised neoliberalism, with global finance engaged in ever more areas of economic and social life, significantly shaping the nature and role of SOEs. But this is highly variegated, changes take decades to evolve and the consequences are often unintended. However, deviation from the current trajectory requires major shifts in the nature and balance of power in economic and social reproduction.