CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Mukhtarov, Farhad Gahraman |
|---|---|
| Title | The Hegemony of Integrated Water Resources Management: a Study of Policy Translation in England, Turkey, and Kazakhstan |
| Summary | Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) emerged in the conservation movement in the USA of the 1900s in order to address the challenges of managing complex interactions between water, land, eco- and social systems, and grew to an international level. As IWRM is implemented in dozens of countries world-wide, national water policies become increasingly influenced by the global IWRM discourse via the travel of policy ideas. This dissertation explores the process by which national water policies in countries with contrasting policy circumstances – England, Turkey and Kazakhstan – are influenced by the international IWRM discourse. It introduces the concept of policy translation to capture the travel of ideas and their modification at the national level; analyzes the intellectual history of IWRM, the international IWRM discourse, and the drivers in the process of policy influence. Interviews, multiple case study, desk research, participant and non-participant observations, discourse analysis, critical content analysis, conference participation and other methods were used in this research. Policy ideas may travel via individuals and international organizations – as in less formalized systems of Turkey and Kazakhstan, or via networks and consultancies – as observed in England. The travel of ideas and their modification at the national level is explained through policy translation, which, contrary to policy transfer, emphasises the non-linearity of the travel and (re)interpretation of ideas. Institutional and legitimacy factors are as important in policy translation as formal cost-benefit analysis. National politics is of crucial importance for policy translation in all three cases and largely predetermines the interpretation of IWRM and the extent to which international experience is used. The capacity of states to process and meaningfully use the IWRM ideas coming from an international level is essential in policy translation and is linked to the financial and human resources and the mechanism for policy deliberation at the national level. The global hegemony of IWRM is predetermined by the ability of IWRM to be translated to the national level through the three pillars of hegemony - discursive, material and organizational domination. Thus, global IWRM hegemony operates via the successful processes of policy translation in national policy systems. |
| Supervisor | Cherp Aleh |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/ephmuf01.pdf |
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