The Political–Technical Divide and Collaborative Management in Brazil's Taquari Basin

Elected officials and managers are both integral players in natural resource management. Politicians and technicians recognize that interdependencies exist, but finding organizational models that effectively integrate the distinct political and technical aspects of these endeavors remains a challeng...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe journal of environment & development Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 68 - 90
Main Author Safford, Thomas G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE 01.03.2010
SAGE Publications
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Agricultural management
Brazil
City councils
Collaboration
Communication strategies
Consortia
Cooperation
Environmental planning
Integration
Mayors
Natural resource management
Natural resources
Organizational aspects
Organizational behaviour
Organizational models
Organizational sociology
Players
Political communication
Political ideologies
Politicians
Politics
Public officials
Resource allocation
Resource management
Social forces
Sociology
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable development
Technicians
Water management
Watershed management
Watersheds
Brazil
Brazil
watershed management
organizational behavior
collaboration
natural resource management
environmental planning
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Summary:Elected officials and managers are both integral players in natural resource management. Politicians and technicians recognize that interdependencies exist, but finding organizational models that effectively integrate the distinct political and technical aspects of these endeavors remains a challenge. In Brazil's Taquari Basin, leaders formed a watershed-based intermunicipal consortium in an attempt to achieve such integration. The experience of this consortium shows that organizing management around watersheds does not naturally lead to political–technical integration. The institutional separation of political and technical activities within this consortium's structure generated divergent beliefs about appropriate functions for a watershed-based organization, ultimately impeding collaboration. Efforts to overcome these differences were largely unsuccessful, as the communication strategies employed were based on flawed understandings of the interests and objectives of politicians and technicians, respectively. This study draws on conceptual frameworks from organizational sociology to uncover the social forces that both facilitate and impede collaboration across the political–technical divide.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:1070-4965
1552-5465
DOI:10.1177/1070496509355275