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BUILDING THE AGENDA FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH IN WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1
Author(s) -
Blomquist William,
Heikkila Tanya,
Schlager Edella
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2004.tb01056.x
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , resource management (computing) , institutional analysis , resource (disambiguation) , comparative research , business , institutional theory , political science , environmental resource management , public administration , public relations , sociology , economics , computer science , social science , computer network , paleontology , biology
This paper pursues more specifically the recommendations of a recent National Research Council report recommending greater attention to research on institutions in the field of water resource management. The important challenge for the future in institutional research lies in going beyond the observation that institutions are important and in explaining instead how institutions actually affect management options and outcomes. It is possible to illuminate the relationships between institutional features and water management through comparative institutional research. This paper offers recommendations for studying water institutions in a comparative context, including methodological recommendations concerning approaches to comparative institutional research, and topics for comparative institutional research that appear especially fruitful at this time. The example of conjunctive management is used to illustrate the importance of institutional factors in water management, drawing to some extent on the authors’ recent experience with a comparative study of conjunctive management institutions.