Water Policy and Cultural Exchange: Transferring Lessons from Around the World to the Western United States

Wescoat, James L.

doi:10.4337/9781845424640.00007

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Legal materials search methods were added to trace the diffusion of public trust doctrine cases in the U.S. and South Asia (Wescoat, 2009). A search for rural and urban water conservation research in the U.S. and India identified gaps and linkages between those fields and regions (Wescoat, 2005(Wescoat, , 2014, as did a review of intersections between research on political ecology and natural hazards (Wescoat, 2015). Extension of these methods to the Colorado River basin began by identifying the following levels of water management: • WorldCat-for books.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review

Wescoat

2023

Front. Water

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Complex water-stressed basins like the Colorado River in North America have multiple institutional levels of water management. Each institutional level is characterized by rules, organizations, and spatial jurisdictions that developed over decades to centuries to shape a dynamic multi-level system. After introducing the concept of institutional levels, and its relationship to geographic scales, this paper employs systematic bibliographic search methods to review their development in the Colorado River basin region. Results begin with the community level of water management from prehistoric Indian water cultures to early Hispanic water communities, 19th century water communities, and 20th century water organizations. Conflict among water communities shaped the state level of constitutional authority over water rights administration during the 19th century. Competition among states led in the 20th century to the interstate level of apportionment that often paralleled federal and tribal level water development policies, eventually leading to the international level of treaty relations between the U.S. and Mexico. This macro-historical geographic progression from institutions that were relatively small in size and early in time to those at higher levels and more recent in time offers insights into the multi-level institutional logic of the “law of the river” in the Colorado River basin region.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review

Wescoat

2023

Front. Water

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“…The study of how policy ideas spread in the water sector is becoming increasingly popular. Wescoat (2005) looked at various theories to explain lesson-drawing in the water sector and claimed that four stand out: diffusion of innovation, comparative theory and practice, social movements, and legal transplants. Gerlak (2007) The great diversity of approaches to the transnational movement of ideas invites a structured critical review of this particular part of policymaking in the water sector.…”

Section: Conventional Approaches To Study the Movement Of Water Policmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transfer, Diffusion, Adaptation, and Translation of Water Policy Models

Mukhtarov

Daniell

2016

Oxford Handbooks Online

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Intensive cross-border movement of policy models is ubiquitous in the water sector. Examples include Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Water User Associations (WUAs), and River Basin Organizations (RBOs), which have traveled around the world. However, despite the spread of global water policy models and their potential importance for sustainable development, scholars have struggled to develop adequate accounts of this process. To bridge this gap, we examine the extant analytical and methodological tools to study the movement of water policy models. We focus on the fit between a policy model and the context, the micro-politics of knowledge translation, and the inherent contingencies involved in water policy. Having recognized these obstacles, we offer some ways of conceptualizing the movement of water policy models. We illustrate each approach with vignettes from around the world.

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“…In comparative law, the concept of “legal transplants” seeks to explain the diffusion, imposition, and adaptation of water policies from one region to another. Originally developed to explain the diffusion of Roman law, it has relevance for many uses of precedents in water law (Wescoat 2001, 2005). The U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization's Legislative Branch has compiled and drafted water codes for decades while the Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at Dundee Scotland is a hub for future international water policy research and experimentation.…”

Section: International Water Analogies and Transplantsmentioning

confidence: 99%