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Assessing Action Situation Networks: A Configurational Perspective on Water and Energy Governance in Irrigation Systems

Corresponding author.

Environmental and Resource Economics, Swiss Federal Research Institute, WSL Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf (ZH), Switzerland

Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Joštova 10, 61500 Brno, Czech Republic

E-mail Address: [email protected]

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and

Sergio Villamayor Tomas

Environmental and Resource Economics, Swiss Federal Research Institute, WSL Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf (ZH), Switzerland

Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S2382624X18500054Cited by:11

This article is part of the issue:

Special Issue on Game Theory and Water Resource Management

Abstract

The action situation is a core component of actor-centered institutional analysis of natural resource governance. Institutional analysis frameworks have been extended to observe multiple situations structured into networks. If further operationalized, this extension can improve policy diagnosis of human–environmental interactions. This paper proposes two complementary ways to move in that direction. First, we propose the use of qualitative configurational analysis and game theory to study the interactions between situations and assess the contribution of each to a desired outcome. Second, we draw on centrality measures to assess the benefits and risks of implementing policies that aim to change the equilibria in action situations. Both analytical strategies are applied to two cases involving irrigation and energy governance. In the Spanish case, centrality of the water allocation situation justifies a configuration of drought measures that also tackle cooperation in monitoring and infrastructure maintenance. In the Indian case, groundwater governance and adequate infrastructure capacity provision are necessary preconditions to enable coordinated technology adoption, which facilitates incentives for regulated irrigation. In both the cases, some action situations’ positive outcomes are necessary in every configuration to guarantee optimal equilibria in the network. In the context of energy-fed irrigation systems, the proposed analytical strategies permit integrating interactions between water use, energy use and food production decisions in policy diagnoses. The analysis can be extended to identify archetypes, network closure, as well as structural and functional connectivity of networks in social-ecological systems.

Keywords:

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Published: 18 January 2018

Vol. 05, No. 01

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History

Received 31 January 2017

Revised 9 April 2017

Accepted 12 December 2017

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Assessing Action Situation Networks: A Configurational Perspective on Water and Energy Governance in Irrigation Systems

Abstract

References

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