Thesis (Ph. D. - Political Science)--University of Arizona, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 313-330).

The thesis investigates the processes of the formation and functioning of Water Users Associations (WUAs) which have been implemented under the policy of Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) in Maharashtra, Western India. The thesis explores (1) how social and economic hierarchies shape the process of participation in WUAs; (2) the roles played by the State and Non-Governmental Organisations in the process of participatory development; (3) the ways in which processes of neo-liberalisation have influenced water reforms in a developing country like India. The study draws on different critiques of neo-liberalism, and it explores theories of participation to provide a holistic understanding of PIM (Participatory Irrigation Management) reforms carried out in Maharashtra. The study uses a qualitative approach, based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out over twelve months at two Water Users Associations in a village in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. The study finds that processes of participation are complex, and characterized by the vested interests of the different actors involved in the process of the formation and functioning of WUAs in the village. The WUAs have been able to provide water to many farmers in the area. However, the policy has been unable to achieve much success in terms of resolving conflicts among farmers and enhancing the participation of small landholding and marginalized farmers in the WUAs. I found that the process of neo-liberalisation does not challenge or reform traditional institutions such as caste and gender, but rather that it uses them to entrench market reforms. The implementation of WUAs' policy in the wider neo-liberal context has increased the powers of the State and NGO intervention in the formulation and implementation of WUAs policy. Processes of WUAs' formation and functioning are significant examples of the ways in which neo-liberalisation is taking shape in India, including the commodification of water, and thereby, the reproduction of existing hierarchies and power imbalances. The study contributes towards developing an understanding of the wider processes of neo-liberal governance in the water sector.

This thesis examines how constitutional reforms relating to the right to water in Bolivia have affected water provision in peri-urban Cochabamba. This multi-sited ethnography explores how the right to water has framed reforms to the Bolivian water sector, how and why the right to water has been contested in Bolivia, the impact of reforms to the water sector on peri-urban water committees and emerging challenges and opportunities for sustainable water provision in peri-urban Bolivia. It demonstrates that despite the high profile role played by Bolivia in advancing the right to water at the international and national level, in practice the right to water continues to be a fairly nebulous concept. There is a disconnect between Bolivia's international stance on the human right to water and national reforms around the right to water. This thesis contends that the right to water is a banner under which the water sector has been reformed since the election of Evo Morales in 2006. Even though the constitution states that everyone has the right to water, in practice water often continues to be provided through community providers such as drinking water committees (DWCs), largely due to the failure of municipal water provision. Reforms and policy have focussed on (re)nationalising the sector and establishing new institutions to regulate and develop diverse water providers such as peri-urban DWCs. Through detailed ethnographic examination of peri-urban Cochabamba, the thesis demonstrates that activists and community-water providers in rural and peri-urban areas have contested reforms linked to the right to water. They have contended that reforms have the potential to undermine community water systems, and furthermore, that the state has failed to guarantee basic human rights and service provision. To date, the state and non-state initiatives to enhance the sustainability of DWCs have focussed on certain elements of sustainability, specifically protecting the aquifer and enhancing institutional sustainability of DWCs. By drawing on the experience and development of one DWC, this thesis also explores further elements that present challenges and opportunities to enhance sustainable water provision in peri-urban areas, namely building equitable access, and the reconciling of local power relations.

This thesis explores the role of expert-led policy processes in addressing water quality. It does so by drawing on the ‘peri-urban' as a setting which exemplifies contemporary social and environmental challenges associated with river and groundwater pollution, as well as the health and livelihood implications for the poorest citizens in peri-urban areas. The peri-urban area of Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, provides a good reference point for understanding those challenges, while India's environmental regulatory agency (the Central Pollution Control Board) demonstrates how policy experts influence such a setting by enacting their institutional role and mandate. The thesis examines the ways in which problems associated with deteriorating water quality in peri-urban areas are often neglected in expert-led policy processes, and the consequent implications for peri-urban poor communities. It argues that expert-driven policy approaches to addressing water quality are formulated almost exclusively on scientific grounds, while underlying ‘non-scientific' decisions and choices, emerging from actors operating at levels from policy framing to policy implementation, are not awarded the same importance, thus ignoring issues that pertain to the social, environmental and political implications of the problems. By drawing on qualitative research, the thesis focuses on two case studies. One examines the Central Pollution Control Board's framing of policy initiatives while the other follows the implementation of such policies in peri-urban Ghaziabad. The thesis demonstrates how the scale of monitoring water quality is heavily biased towards national rather than local level priorities. This leads to an understatement of important water quality problems that affect peri-urban areas in favour of large-scale analyses of pollution in river basins. This has the effect of understating important water quality problems that affect peri-urban areas in poorer localities such as villages within the Ghaziabad district. The centrality of technical discourses in the articulation of and response to water quality problems makes it difficult for non-technical perspectives (derived directly from those people who are exposed to pollution) to feed into formal decision-making. This research also identified the key influence of a number of actors (municipal engineers, public health officials and district magistrates) in shaping and implementing policy outcomes on the ground in local contexts (i.e. peri-urban areas), even though their roles are often not recognised formally. The thesis is original in its attempt to merge insights from policy studies and science technology studies (STS) and apply them to the domain of water quality, a field that has not traditionally been subjected to critical social science inquiry. It also unpacks ethnographically the Board's dual role as both a policy advisor and regulator, and further illustrates how the enactment of these roles can lead to contradictory outcomes on the ground, particularly for the poorest periurban citizens.

In Canada, the duty to consult doctrine has been articulated as a legal remedy to address the potential infringement of Aboriginal and treaty rights by the Crown. The political dimension and implications of this legal duty on the evolving federal relationship between First Nations and the provincial Crown concerning lands and resources have yet to be fully explored. This research presents the argument that the duty to consult jurisprudence and the new relationship policy in British Columbia are moving towards the articulation of a treaty federalism relationship between the Crown and First Nations. The implications of these findings are then analyzed within the Saskatchewan policy environment, and a potential consultation framework is offered for this province. Crucial linkages between duty to consult jurisprudence and Aboriginal governance, and their implications for policy are highlighted, which contribute to further understanding the complex relationship between First Nations and the Crown in Canada on land and resources.

In Canada, the duty to consult doctrine has been articulated as a legal remedy to address the potential infringement of Aboriginal and treaty rights by the Crown. The political dimension and implications of this legal duty on the evolving federal relationship between First Nations and the provincial Crown concerning lands and resources have yet to be fully explored. This research presents the argument that the duty to consult jurisprudence and the new relationship policy in British Columbia are moving towards the articulation of a treaty federalism relationship between the Crown and First Nations. The implications of these findings are then analyzed within the Saskatchewan policy environment, and a potential consultation framework is offered for this province. Crucial linkages between duty to consult jurisprudence and Aboriginal governance, and their implications for policy are highlighted, which contribute to further understanding the complex relationship between First Nations and the Crown in Canada on land and resources.