Publication
Title
Institutions under construction : resolving resource conflicts in Tanzanian irrigation schemes
Author
Abstract
Water governance in Tanzania's small-scale irrigation schemes has become ever more challenging because of increasing market penetration, declining predictability of water availability and widening institutional pluralism. Despite these trends, resource conflicts at the local level have generally been avoided. Instead, one observes processes in which actors involved in conflicts make and remake institutions. This renders these irrigation schemes interesting for studying water governance institutions under construction. By documenting how conflicts over water are solved in small-scale irrigation schemes in rural Tanzania, we show that resource conflicts do not necessarily lead to violence, but motivate actors to pragmatically search for solutions. Institutional pluralism is turned into an asset because it increases the potential for creativity. As such, pragmatic conflict resolution and institutional pluralism contribute to the development of more sophisticated and locally adapted resource governance institutions. However, despite its potential, actor-driven development of resource governance institutions can also reproduce deeply entrenched power imbalances and gender roles. As such, it can hinder inclusion of less powerful resource users because the latter do not always have the capability to engage in creative conflict resolution.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journal of eastern African studies. - Abingdon
Publication
Abingdon : 2011
ISSN
1753-1055
1753-1063 [online]
DOI
10.1080/17531055.2011.571388
Volume/pages
5 :2 (2011) , p. 252-273
ISI
000290672600003
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Publication type
Subject
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.10.2015
Last edited 25.01.2023
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