Timothy Moss

Addressing Water Conflicts Through Context-Specific Institutional Analysis: A Handbook for Research Projects and Programmes

An approach is presented to address adequately the prevailing political and institutional constraints and opportunities of IWRM projects across different domains. The proposed means to achieve this is presented in ‘The IRS Handbook’ which provides an inductive, ‘bottom-up’ analytical framework and a methodological guide for utilisation plus an appendix of useful resources. The overall objective is to facilitate the embedding of these projects within specific socio-political contexts, rather than alongside or in conflict with existing institutional structures and practices. The IRS Handbook has four key elements. First, a four-stage analytical approach is presented (‘Water Storylines’, ‘Domains of Problems/Solutions’, ‘Political and Institutional Feasibility’ and ‘Ways Forward’). Second, it is two-speed in design: a Fast-track version has been designed to fit with planning or pilot stages of projects. The In-depth version is intended to be used in the main phase of a R+D project. Third, it is modular in form: in each stage key approaches in the literature are detailed and linked into the overall framework in a modular fashion with suggestions as to how research could be extended or supplemented in important areas. Fourth, the framework encourages iterative research, so that the researcher regularly tests and updates findings in what will normally be a changing institutional and political context. Overall, the IRS Handbook provides orientation for the best ways forward for most feasible solutions and an assessment of how less compatible solutions could be supported, including ways of adapting existing institutional arrangements.

Institutional Change in Environmental Contexts

To come a full circle we return, in this concluding chapter, to the title of the book: “How Institutions Change — Perspectives on Social Learning in Global and Local Environmental Contexts”. It is now time to summarise our responses to the central questions: How do institutions change? How can we induce dynamics of social learning? What have we learned about institutional change in global and local environmental contexts? Drawing on the conclusions from the various case studies and disciplinary perspectives presented in this book we bring together some broad lines of argument and suggest research and policy implications.