Water policy implementation

Water issues are often presented from a purely technical and/or functional perspective. From this perspective, the aim is to manage the resource "well" (in a fair, economical, environmentally friendly way, etc.) based on available scientific knowledge. However, this view is somewhat unrealistic. Regardless of the geographical scale involved, water management is largely structured by political issues.

The aim of this module is to revisit these issues by looking at how water is the subject of debate and controversy, how a series of collective problems are constructed around it, and, ultimately, how water policies are actually formulated.

Final exam: 1-hour written exam in person.

Preliminary reading of the summary manual Les politiques de l’eau (Barone S., Mayaux P.-L., Les politiques de l’eau, Paris, LGDJ, 2019)

• Session 1: "Introduction: Water and Politics" and start of the course on "The State in Water Policy" => pp. 9-16, pp. 25-34, pp. 38-40, pp. 45-51 = 17 pages

• Session 2: end of the course on "The State in Water Policy" => pp. 51-54, pp. 63-83, pp. 85-86, pp. 96-98, pp. 103-107 = 31 pages

• Session 3: "Local policies and elected officials responsible for water" => pp. 57-62, pp. 86-96, pp. 99-103 = 22 pages

• Session 4: "The effects of water policies" => pp. 109-115, pp. 116-119, pp. 123-125 = 14 pages