Water governance and scale games

Governance is a polysemous word that is used in opposition to government to indicate a less centralized form of power. The success of this term probably stems from its ambiguity. Indeed, it is a concept sometimes used to challenge central executive power (monarchy, corporate management, etc.) in a context where it is perceived as hegemonic, and sometimes used to demand more government in a market context perceived as chaotic, but in which the dominant ideology is opposed to centralized intervention. It is therefore a concept that can be used to demand both more and less government.

This EU takes a critical and reflective approach to governance, with a historical depth that integrates the trajectories of public action between globalization and Europeanization on the one hand, and decentralization and territorialization on the other, in contexts of growing uncertainty, global change, and transition. In particular, it explores the following questions:

• Governance? Dominant concept, critical approach, institutional and socio-political context, emergence, evolution in a context of global change?
• Water policy development and governance; Role of concepts and discourse; How can governance models be influenced or changed? Better consideration of collective values promoted by IWRM? Importance of the long term, historical depth, and foresight?
• What room for maneuver do actors have at the local, national, and international levels? What strategies are used to manage a water territory? Illustration of the diversity of governance modes
• Water governance: between integration and fragmentation?
• Water as an 'interconnecting fluid' between actors and ecosystems: how should these interactions and their social implications be governed?

• Critically examine the dominant concept of governance, understanding the institutional and socio-political context of its emergence and evolution in a context of global change and transition.
• Analyze and understand how water policies are developed and their role in water governance, examining in particular the role of concepts and discourse, and how modes of governance can be influenced or changed to better reflect the collective values promoted by IWRM.
• Understanding the scope for action available to national and international actors and strategies for managing a water territory through examples that illustrate the diversity of governance models and the relationship between the distribution of power and the costs/benefits associated with a given hydrological regime.

Minimum knowledge of water stakeholders and policies.

Group project and individual questions.

Water governance: trajectory of a concept and prospects in a world in transition (S. Richard)

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the concept of governance addressed in the EU course "Issues, Actors, Regulation" by tracing and analyzing the history of its emergence and its many meanings in several disciplinary fields. It aims to develop students' critical analysis and reflexivity with regard to this dominant concept and its relevance in adapting public action.

Governance and the State (F. Molle)

This course provides a theoretical overview of public policy formation and policy-making processes. It aims to develop critical analysis of the discursive power surrounding water concepts. It illustrates the importance of discursive power in a concrete way through the analysis of a World Bank document.

Institutional change and "governance shift" (F. Molle)

This course distinguishes between state governance and governance by non-state actors, and examines reforms in the water sector and the various levers that different actors can use to bring about change in governance and decision-making. The role ofadvocacy, knowledge production, deliberative approaches, and codes of conduct are examined in parallel with traditional state actions and instruments.

Diversity of water governance systems and adaptations to global changes. Practical application and illustration based on French and international case studies (S. Richard, S. Ghiotti)

The diversity of governance models depending on scale and context, and the importance of taking the long term into account for public action in the field of water, are illustrated using various examples, particularly from France, to illustrate a system in which the state is very present (power of the SAGE/SDAGE), but also decentralized and with a clear desire for consultation between local actors, while being subject to European directives (WFD and other water directives); Chilean (to illustrate the functioning of water markets); Bolivian (where water management is more community-based, with very little state intervention); and/or others.

The WFD and its implementation (S. Ghiotti, S. Richard)

France's adoption of the European Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC) and its objective of achieving "good ecological status" by 2015 impose performance obligations on Member States. The perception, definition, and acceptance of "good ecological status" by the various stakeholders is a social and political construct that varies over time and space. All of these dynamics of territorial restructuring at work carry significant social, environmental, and financial implications. The implementation of the WFD therefore calls into question the organizational and territorial processes that guide water and land management in France. The analysis of the restructuring of water governance in the context of achieving good status and the analysis of the evolution of society's relationship with its aquatic environments (representations, practices, management, etc.) will constitute the two main areas of focus for the interventions.

Introduction to a political ecology of watershed development and management (F. Molle)

The course introduces an approach to water development and management that highlights the relationships between formal and informal decision-making and power structures and planning and management methods, as well as their implications in terms of the spatial and social distribution of costs and benefits. It illustrates this approach with examples from Thailand, Tanzania, the USA, Morocco, India, and the Middle East.