From hydroimperialism to hydrocapitalism: ‘French’ hydraulics in France, North Africa, and beyond

Abstract

This article examines hydroimperialism and the subsequent emergence of hydrocapitalism in 19th- and 20th-century France and beyond. As the terms themselves suggest, both forms of ‘hydropower’ illustrate the fundamental connection between water, its management, and colonial or neocolonial relations in the modern era. The article develops the concepts of hydroimperialism and hydrocapitalism both historically and analytically. It examines some of the historical processes that fostered and shaped French hydroimperialism during the colonial era, with French North Africa serving as the empirical example. It also explores how French political and technical elites basically advocated hydroimperialism, often from France to its North African empire, but also from the colonies to the metropole. Obscuring these earlier mobilities and exchanges, French water specialists in the late 20th century have pushed for the export of their hydraulic expertise ‘globally’. Finally, although this study of hydroimperialism and hydrocapitalism is based on historical sources and methods, and their particular forms are thus situated in France, French North Africa, and parts of the global South, these concepts are analytically flexible. They facilitate historical comparisons while also helping to theorize the mutual constitution of science and technology, environmental management, and power in the modern world.