Practical Authority: Agency and Institutional Change in Brazilian Water Politics PDF
Preview Practical Authority: Agency and Institutional Change in Brazilian Water Politics
Practical Authority This page intentionally left blank Practical Authority Agency and Institutional Change in Brazilian Water Politics Rebecca Neaera Abers and Margaret E. Keck 3 3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 © Oxford University Press 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitt ed, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitt ed by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Abers, Rebecca. Practical authority : agency and institutional change in Brazilian water politics / Rebecca Neaera Abers, Margaret E. Keck. pages cm Summary: “New institutions don’t come into being by themselves: Th ey have to be organized. On the basis of research from a decade-long, multi-site study of eff orts to transform freshwater management in Brazil, Practical Authority asks how new institutional arrangements established by law become operational in practice”—Provided by publisher. ISBN 978–0–19–998526–5 (hardback)—ISBN 978–0–19–998527–2 (paperback) 1. Water-supply—Brazil—Management. 2. Water-supply—Political aspects—Brazil. 3. Water resources development—Political aspects—Brazil. 4. Hydrology—Brazil. 5. Fresh water—Brazil. 6. Brazil—Politics and government—1985–2002. I. Keck, Margaret E. II. Title. TD241.A1A34 2013 333.9100981—dc23 2013003846 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper We dedicate this book to our children, Nina, Th omas, Laura, and Melissa This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xiii Prologue xvii 1. Practical Authority, Institution Building, and Entanglement 1 2. Entangled Institutions and Layered Reform Narratives: Governing Water Resources in Historical Context 30 3. Institutional Design in Entangled Sett ings: How to Make an Unfi nished Law 5 5 4. Practicing Laws: Experiments with Institution Building 84 5. Becoming Committ ees: Diversity, Problems, and Processes 1 11 6. Diversions of Authority: Power, Perseverance, and Struggles over the Control of Water Resources 1 43 7. Building Practical Authority from Outside the State 168 Conclusions 1 95 Appendix 1: Methodological Narrative 2 11 Appendix 2: List of Interviews 223 References 231 Index 253 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing books, like building institutions, is a slow and messy process that depends on the help of very many people. In this case, their numbers are especially large. Th e ideas that went into this book began to germinate more than 12 years ago with the creation of the Watermark Project, the idea for which grew out of discussions with Rosa Maria Formiga Johnsson and Gerôncio Albuquerque Rocha and spread to include many more. Dozens of people participated in the project’s research, and hundreds more have collaborated. Many of them have shared information and insights, some repeatedly; some have become friends. People involved in and outside of water management reform, in Brazil and elsewhere, have taken an interest in what we were doing and encouraged us to do more. We cannot possibly thank all of them individually, but we are deeply grateful to all of them. A small group of women who became the core of the Watermark Project during most of its duration were our soul mates and helped to formulate some of the central ideas in this book, especially Rosa Formiga Johnsson, Beate Frank, and Manuela Moreira. Our thinking was also infl uenced by the many long conversations we had with Maria Carmen Lemos, Vanessa Empinott i, Ricardo Gutiérrez, Rosa Mancini, Rosana Garjulli, Gerôncio Rocha, Wilde Cardoso, Oscar Cordeiro, and Bruno Pagnoccheschi. Paula Lopes, Karina Jorge, and Nilda Matos provided crucial operational support for the research process, besides doing research themselves. Ana Karine Pereira conducted dozens of interviews for us in the fi eld. Cristina Saliba and Jackson de Toni also conducted interviews. Paula Lopes kindly supplied us with the tapes of her interviews from the Piracicaba basin. Yehonatan Abramson commented on the work and helped us format the manuscript and bibliography. Mimi Abers and Ruy Lucas de Souza helped with fi gures and the map. Th e detailed comments we received from people who read conference papers and chapters have been crucial for honing our ideas and think- ing of new and, we hope, bett er ones. We are grateful to Adrian Gurza Lavalle, Alex Livingston, Alison Post, Anna Gruben, Bill Connolly, Brian Wampler, Chris Ansell, Clovis Henrique de Souza, Erin Chung, Evelina
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