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Getting Access to Water: Property Rights or Public Policy Strategies?

Author

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  • David Aubin

    (Institut de sciences politiques Louvain-Europe, Université catholique de Louvain, place Montesquieu 1 boîte L2.08.07, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

  • Frédéric Varone

    (Département de science politique et relations internationales, Université de Genève, 40 boulevard du Pont d'Arve, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland)

Abstract

Water is subject to heterogeneous uses that put pressure on it and create rivalries between competing users. With this paper we analyse the conditions under which challengers are successful in gaining access to the resource and in imposing a change of behaviour on the incumbent users. We ask whether the acquisition of property rights is the only means for a challenger to get access to the resource. The empirical study compares eleven ‘most different’ cases of water rivalries in four water basins. We show that two main ‘paths’ explain success: either the challenger activates a property right and negotiates a solution at no cost for the incumbents or he or she activates a public policy that grants him or her a credible alternative to a negotiated agreement. Thus, the challenger must select the kind of rule, property right, or public policy that supports their position and then elaborate an appropriate strategy to impose this rule.

Suggested Citation

  • David Aubin & Frédéric Varone, 2013. "Getting Access to Water: Property Rights or Public Policy Strategies?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(1), pages 154-167, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:31:y:2013:i:1:p:154-167
    DOI: 10.1068/c11247
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. W. D. Shaw, 2005. "Water Resource Economics and Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3495, March.
    2. Edella Schlager & Elinor Ostrom, 1992. "Property-Rights Regimes and Natural Resources: A Conceptual Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 68(3), pages 249-262.
    3. Aubin, David, 2008. "Asserted Rights; Rule Activation Strategies in Water User Rivalries in Belgium and Switzerland," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 207-227, August.
    4. Ronald C. Griffin, 2006. "Water Resource Economics: The Analysis of Scarcity, Policies, and Projects," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026207267x, December.
    5. Holzinger, Katharina, 2001. "Negotiations in Public-Policy Making: Exogenous Barriers to Successful Dispute Resolution," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 71-96, January.
    6. Gerber, Jean-David & Knoepfel, Peter & Nahrath, Stéphane & Varone, Frédéric, 2009. "Institutional Resource Regimes: Towards sustainability through the combination of property-rights theory and policy analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 798-809, January.
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