Hydraulic bureaucracies and Irrigation Management Transfer in Uzbekistan: the case of Samarkand Province

Andrea Zinzani

International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2016, vol. 32, issue 2, 232-246

Abstract: Since the 1990s, Irrigation Management Transfer has been considered the world over to be a policy aimed at rolling back state influence in water management according to a neo-liberal approach. The initiative was endorsed by international organizations as a way of reforming the water sector in developing countries. Reflecting on this process, the role of hydraulic bureaucracies in driving reforms oriented towards IMT has often been neglected in academic debate. This article discusses the logic of IMT implementation and the establishment of Water Users' Associations (WUAs) in Uzbekistan, specifically in Samarkand province. These dynamics have been analysed over the last 10 years showing different trajectories within Uzbekistan. Data were collected through extensive fieldwork in three districts in Samarkand province. The evidence acquired shows that, on the one hand, WUAs were established to be a new structure for state control over water and agriculture, in conflict with IMT rationale, and, on the other, that WUAs were created in the province as a result of a local initiative promoted by the hydraulic bureaucracy and accepted by the national authorities due to influential power relations.

Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/07900627.2015.1058765 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cijwxx:v:32:y:2016:i:2:p:232-246

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/cijw20

DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2015.1058765

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Water Resources Development is currently edited by Cecilia Tortajada

More articles in International Journal of Water Resources Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().