A Critical Approach to International Water Management Trends

Christian Bréthaut is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland. He leads the Education and Knowledge component of the Geneva Water Hub and co-leads the UNESCO Chair on Hydropolitics from the University of Geneva. Rémi Schweizer is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Lausanne and ETH Zürich. His research focuses on environmental and food governance, with a particular interest on power relations, policy implementation and innovation, and local community governance.

1. Taking-Up Practical and Intellectual Challenges Posed by International Water Management Trends: Some Introductory Remarks; C.Bréthaut and R.Schweizer.- 2. Avoiding the Commons Trap: An Exploration of Local Community Governance of Water in Valais, Switzerland; R.Schweizer.- 3. Integrated Water Resources Management as a Compromise: Renewing the Water Act in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland; A.Buchs.- 4. Transboundary Water Management: From Geopolitics to a Non-State Analytical Perspective: The Case of the Rhône river; C.Bréthaut.- 5. From Multi-Level Governance to Scalar Politics: Water Community Networks Challenging Neo-Extractivist Governmental Institutions in Ecuador; E.Dupuits.- 6. Exploring the Democratic Legitimacy of Privatization in the Water Sector: Two Cases in Switzerland; E.Lieberherr.- 7. Governing Water with Market-Based Instruments: Preferences and Skepticism in Switzerland; F.Metz & P.Leifeld.- 8. Climate Change Adaptation as a New Global Norm in the Water Sector? Between Symbolism and Dilution; J.Dupuis.- 9. Water Security as a Normative Goal or as a Structural Principle for Water Governance; T.Bolognesi & S.Kluser.- 10. Politicizing the Water-Energy Nexus. Hydropower and Instream Values in Two Swiss Cantons Water Strategies; L.Tonka.- 11. From the Promises of International Water Management Trends to the Reality of Policies and Practices: Some Conclusive Thoughts; R.Schweizer & C.Bréthaut.