IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v28y2011i1p109-121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Watered-down democratization: modernization versus social participation in water management in Northeast Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Renzo Taddei

Abstract

This article examines social participation in water management in the Jaguaribe Valley, state of Ceará, Northeast Brazil. It argues that participatory approaches are heavily influenced by the general ideological and symbolic contexts in which they occur, that is, by how participants understand (or misunderstand) what is taking place, and associate specific meanings to things and events. An analysis of these symbolic factors at work sheds light on the potentialities of and limitations on participatory experiences not accounted for in usual structural analyses. In the particular case of Ceará, this article describes how the idea of modernization, which is so pervasive in the ways economic development is presented in Brazil, provides a frame against which other meanings are constructed. In water management arenas, the presentation of participation as an aspect of the general modernization of the state has reorganized meanings and delegitimized some forms of knowledge and economic activities to the detriment of others. As a result, the promotion of equality through participation lost a great deal of efficacy, and this state of affairs provided some degree of social validation for asymmetries in participatory decision making processes. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • Renzo Taddei, 2011. "Watered-down democratization: modernization versus social participation in water management in Northeast Brazil," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(1), pages 109-121, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:28:y:2011:i:1:p:109-121
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-010-9259-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-010-9259-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-010-9259-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Carmen Lemos & Lisa Dilling, 2007. "Equity in forecasting climate: Can science save the world's poor?," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 109-116, March.
    2. Johnsson, Rosa Maria Formiga & Kemper, Karin, 2005. "Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management : the Alto-Tiete river basin, Sao Paulo, Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3650, The World Bank.
    3. Rebecca Neaera Abers & Margaret E. Keck, 2006. "Muddy Waters: The Political Construction of Deliberative River Basin Governance in Brazil," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 601-622, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carla Roncoli & Brian Dowd‐Uribe & Ben Orlove & Colin Thor West & Moussa Sanon, 2016. "Who counts, what counts: representation and accountability in water governance in the Upper Comoé sub‐basin, Burkina Faso," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1-2), pages 6-20, February.
    2. Jose A. Marengo & Ana Paula M. A. Cunha & Carlos A. Nobre & Germano G. Ribeiro Neto & Antonio R. Magalhaes & Roger R. Torres & Gilvan Sampaio & Felipe Alexandre & Lincoln M. Alves & Luz A. Cuartas & K, 2020. "Assessing drought in the drylands of northeast Brazil under regional warming exceeding 4 °C," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(2), pages 2589-2611, September.
    3. Sonja Kaufmann & Nikolaus Hruschka & Christian R. Vogl, 2020. "Bridging the Literature Gap: A Framework for Assessing Actor Participation in Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-26, October.
    4. Sophie Haines, 2019. "Managing expectations: articulating expertise in climate services for agriculture in Belize," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 43-59, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rimjhim M. Aggarwal & LaDawn Haglund, 2019. "Advancing Water Sustainability in Megacities: Comparative Study of São Paulo and Delhi Using a Social-Ecological System Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-30, September.
    2. Caroline Patsias & Anne Latendresse & Laurence Bherer, 2013. "Participatory Democracy, Decentralization and Local Governance: the Montreal Participatory Budget in the light of ‘Empowered Participatory Governance’," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 2214-2230, November.
    3. Chris Knudson & Zack Guido, 2019. "The missing middle of climate services: layering multiway, two-way, and one-way modes of communicating seasonal climate forecasts," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 171-187, November.
    4. Cavalcante, Ana Helena A. P., 2015. "Barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation: The water crisis in Greater São Paulo," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 04-2015, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    5. World Bank, 2007. "Making the Most of Scarcity : Accountability for Better Water Management Results in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6845.
    6. Lay Mei Sim & Akio Onishi & Olivier Gervais & Ngai Weng Chan, 2018. "Comparative Research on River Basin Management in the Sagami River Basin (Japan) and the Muda River Basin (Malaysia)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Merrey, Douglas J. & Levite, Herve & van Koppen, Barbara, 2009. "Are good intentions leading to good outcomes? continuities in social, economic and hydro-political trajectories in the Olifants River Basin, South Africa," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Salo V. Coslovsky, 2015. "Beyond Bureaucracy: How Prosecutors and Public Defenders Enforce Urban Planning Laws in São Paulo, Brazil," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1103-1119, November.
    9. Philip Harrison, 2021. "Sustainability in City-Regionalism as Emergent Practice: The Case of the BRICS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-19, April.
    10. Salmoral, Gloria & Garrido, Alberto, 2015. "The Common Agricultural Policy as a driver of water quality changes: the case of the Guadalquivir River Basin (southern Spain)," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 4(2), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Parry, Luke & Radel, Claudia & Adamo, Susana B. & Clark, Nigel & Counterman, Miriam & Flores-Yeffal, Nadia & Pons, Diego & Romero-Lankao, Paty & Vargo, Jason, 2019. "The (in)visible health risks of climate change," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Carla Roncoli & Benjamin Orlove & Merit Kabugo & Milton Waiswa, 2011. "Cultural styles of participation in farmers’ discussions of seasonal climate forecasts in Uganda," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(1), pages 123-138, February.
    13. Hansen, James W. & Mishra, Ashok & Rao, K.P.C. & Indeje, Matayo & Ngugi, Robinson Kinuthia, 2009. "Potential value of GCM-based seasonal rainfall forecasts for maize management in semi-arid Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 101(1-2), pages 80-90, June.
    14. Tri Sulistyaningsih & Achmad Nurmandi & Salahudin Salahudin & Ali Roziqin & Muhammad Kamil & Iradhad T. Sihidi & Ach. Apriyanto Romadhan & Mohammad Jafar Loilatu, 2021. "Public Policy Analysis on Watershed Governance in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Eric Nost, 2019. "Climate services for whom? The political economics of contextualizing climate data in Louisiana’s coastal Master Plan," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 27-42, November.
    16. Estache, Antonio & Garsous, Grégoire & Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo, 2016. "Shared Mandates, Moral Hazard, and Political (Mis)alignment in a Decentralized Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 98-110.
    17. Dinar, Ariel & Kemper, Karin & Blomquist, William & Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, 2007. "Whitewater: Decentralization of river basin water resource management," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 851-867.
    18. Sophie Haines, 2019. "Managing expectations: articulating expertise in climate services for agriculture in Belize," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 43-59, November.
    19. Abers, Rebecca Neaera, 2007. "Organizing for Governance: Building Collaboration in Brazilian River Basins," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1450-1463, August.
    20. Estache, Antonio & Garsous, Grégoire & Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo, 2016. "Shared Mandates, Moral Hazard, and Political (Mis)alignment in a Decentralized Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 98-110.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:28:y:2011:i:1:p:109-121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.