Institutional analysis of top-down regulatory: evidence from Iran local governance

• Published in: Water policy Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 930 - 945
• Main Authors: Kamal, Mohamad M., Amiri, Hadi, Moghadam, Vahid, Rahimi, Dariush
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford IWA Publishing 01.08.2021
• Subjects: Arrangements; Case studies; Climate change; Collective action; Community; Conflict resolution; Drought; Exploitation; Game theory; Governance; Government; government intervention; iad framework; Indigenous knowledge; Indigenous Peoples' knowledge; Inequality; institutional analysis; Intervention; Local communities; Local knowledge; Natural disasters; Natural resources; Population growth; Resource management; Rivers; Skewed distributions; Social conditions; Social conditions & trends; State intervention; Technology; Variables; Water; Water crises; water governance; Water resources; Water rights; Water shortages; Water supply; Iran
• ISSN: 1366-7017; 1996-9759
• DOI: 10.2166/wp.2021.075

Abstract Population growth, along with climate change, has exacerbaed the water crisis in local communities. The simplest and quickest response of governments to such problems is direct intervention in local governance. Such solutions are usually proposed without regarding the indigenous knowledge of the local people. These also include top-down policies on water issues, which disrupt local institutional arrangements and eliminate the possibility of collective action by stakeholders in reaching an agreement. A case study of one of the water basins in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari in Iran (the Gorgak River in Sureshjan city) using an institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework shows that in the past, people acted collectively to solve the asymmetric distribution and drought problem. But government intervention, which initially sought to improve water conditions, has disrupted the region's institutional arrangements and power asymmetries between exploiters. Our study used the IAD framework to examine changes in institutional arrangements due to the introduction of technology and government intervention by the game theory. It clarifies that government intervention in local institutional arrangements, even if designed with the intention of improving conditions, may lead to greater inequality due to disregarding physical and social conditions and local knowledge. This inequality can eventually worsen the situation.