Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa

Ownership of development processes has been high on the international agenda since the Paris Declaration of 2005. There is, however, much discussion about whether highly aid-dependent governments can really ‘own’ policy reforms in their countries. In this paper, we argue that the ownership of policy...

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Autores principales: Cherlet, Jan, Venot, Jean-Philippe
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: IWA Publishing 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/33331
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author Cherlet, Jan
Venot, Jean-Philippe
author_browse Cherlet, Jan
Venot, Jean-Philippe
author_facet Cherlet, Jan
Venot, Jean-Philippe
author_sort Cherlet, Jan
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Ownership of development processes has been high on the international agenda since the Paris Declaration of 2005. There is, however, much discussion about whether highly aid-dependent governments can really ‘own’ policy reforms in their countries. In this paper, we argue that the ownership of policy reforms is the outcome of an interaction between individual agency and structural conditions. Taking the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Burkina Faso (since 1996) and Mali (since 2004) as an entry point, the paper describes the interplay between national policy makers, international organizations and dominant development discourses in the shaping of water policy reforms in both countries over the past 15 years. Despite the apparent uniformity of the global IWRM paradigm, a qualitative comparison of water policy changes in the two countries shows that policy reforms, as well as the extent to which they are ‘owned’ by national policy makers, are significantly distinct. This can be explained by different forms of individual agency and diverse structural conditions at a national level.
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spelling CGSpace333312024-08-27T10:35:58Z Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa Cherlet, Jan Venot, Jean-Philippe water Ownership of development processes has been high on the international agenda since the Paris Declaration of 2005. There is, however, much discussion about whether highly aid-dependent governments can really ‘own’ policy reforms in their countries. In this paper, we argue that the ownership of policy reforms is the outcome of an interaction between individual agency and structural conditions. Taking the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Burkina Faso (since 1996) and Mali (since 2004) as an entry point, the paper describes the interplay between national policy makers, international organizations and dominant development discourses in the shaping of water policy reforms in both countries over the past 15 years. Despite the apparent uniformity of the global IWRM paradigm, a qualitative comparison of water policy changes in the two countries shows that policy reforms, as well as the extent to which they are ‘owned’ by national policy makers, are significantly distinct. This can be explained by different forms of individual agency and diverse structural conditions at a national level. 2013-06-01 2013-07-22T14:57:22Z 2013-07-22T14:57:22Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/33331 en Limited Access application/pdf IWA Publishing Cherlet, J. and Venot, J.P. 2013. Structure and agency: Understanding water policy changes in West Africa. Water Policy 15(3):479–495.
spellingShingle water
Cherlet, Jan
Venot, Jean-Philippe
Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa
title Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa
title_full Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa
title_fullStr Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa
title_short Structure and agency: understanding water policy changes in West Africa
title_sort structure and agency understanding water policy changes in west africa
topic water
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/33331
work_keys_str_mv AT cherletjan structureandagencyunderstandingwaterpolicychangesinwestafrica
AT venotjeanphilippe structureandagencyunderstandingwaterpolicychangesinwestafrica