IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v79y2016icp164-176.html

Water User Associations and the Politics of Water in Jordan

Author

Listed:
  • Mustafa, Daanish
  • Altz-Stamm, Amelia
  • Scott, Laura Mapstone

Abstract

Jordan is often held up as one of the most water scarce countries in the world. The water scarcity in the country is not an absolute, but rather a politically mediated reality. The cubic meter numbers for Jordan may very well point toward absolute scarcity, but those numbers hide as much as they reveal. They hide the worlds of meaning, emotion, and social interactions centered around water. It is no surprise then that despite donor-driven push for greater economic rationality in water resources management, political stability continues to be the prime objective of water management in Jordan. Through a case study of Water User Associations (WUAs) in the Jordan Valley we try to demonstrate the political imperatives of water management in Jordan. The WUAs are an example of donor-instigated institutions for water management at the local scale. The WUAs have had variable success in the Jordan valley and some fear that they will not outlast the donors’ and the government’s financial support to them. The WUAs have been appropriated by the elites where their tribal dominance allows for it, while in other places larger farmers operate outside of them. Farmers nevertheless prefer WUAs because they are helpful in gaining access to patronage and water. The future of WUAs in the Jordan Valley is going to be constricted by the Jordanian state’s (in)tolerance of them also becoming politicized spaces for claim-making on the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Mustafa, Daanish & Altz-Stamm, Amelia & Scott, Laura Mapstone, 2016. "Water User Associations and the Politics of Water in Jordan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 164-176.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:79:y:2016:i:c:p:164-176
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.11.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002909
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.11.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iwt:bosers:h021513 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Huang, Qiuqiong & Wang, Jinxia & Easter, K. William & Rozelle, Scott, 2010. "Empirical assessment of water management institutions in northern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 361-369, December.
    3. repec:iwt:conppr:h043533 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:iwt:bosers:h042378 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Bandaragoda, Don Jayatissa, 1999. "Institutional change and shared management of water resources in large canal systems: Results of an action research program in Pakistan," IWMI Research Reports 44579, International Water Management Institute.
    6. Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Margreet Zwarteveen, 1998. "Gendered participation in water management: Issues and illustrations from water users‘ associations in South Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 15(4), pages 337-345, December.
    7. repec:bla:devpol:v:25:y:2007:i:6:p:699-719 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Molle, François & Venot, Jean-Philippe & Hassan, Youssef, 2008. "Irrigation in the Jordan Valley: Are water pricing policies overly optimistic?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(4), pages 427-438, April.
    9. Vermillion, Douglas Lynn, 1997. "Impacts of irrigation management transfer: A review of the evidence," IWMI Research Reports 52798, International Water Management Institute.
    10. Gert Jan A. Veldwisch & Peter P. Mollinga, 2013. "Lost in transition? The introduction of water users associations in Uzbekistan," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(6), pages 758-773, October.
    11. Qiao, Guanghua & Zhao, Lijuan & Klein, K.K., 2009. "Water user associations in Inner Mongolia: Factors that influence farmers to join," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(5), pages 822-830, May.
    12. Jean-Philippe Venot & François Molle, 2008. "Groundwater Depletion in the Jordan Highlands: Can Pricing Policies Regulate Irrigation Water Use?," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1925-1941, December.
    13. Frances Cleaver, 1999. "Paradoxes of participation: questioning participatory approaches to development," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(4), pages 597-612.
    14. Uysal, Özlem Karahan & AtIs, Ela, 2010. "Assessing the performance of participatory irrigation management over time: A case study from Turkey," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(7), pages 1017-1025, July.
    15. Alex Loftus, 2007. "Working the Socio‐Natural Relations of the Urban Waterscape in South Africa," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 41-59, March.
    16. Adhikari, Krishna Prasad & Goldey, Patricia, 2010. "Social Capital and its "Downside": The Impact on Sustainability of Induced Community-Based Organizations in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 184-194, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grillos, Tara & Zarychta, Alan & Nelson Nuñez, Jami, 2021. "Water scarcity & procedural justice in Honduras: Community-based management meets market-based policy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    2. repec:iwt:bosers:h051738 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:iwt:jounls:h048579 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ali, Sameen A. Mohsin, 2020. "Driving participatory reforms into the ground: The bureaucratic politics of irrigation management transfer in Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. Slosse, Wannes & Benavides, Jean Paul & Branisa, Boris & Buysse, Jeroen & D’Haese, Marijke & Quezada Lambertín, Carlos Eduardo & Schoors, Koen, 2025. "Ripples of reciprocity: Navigating trust and collective governance in hydrosocial territories," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. Castro Campos, Bente & Ren, Yanjun & Loy, Jens-Peter, 2020. "Scarce water resources and cereal import dependency: The role of integrated water resources management," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(6).
    7. Demetrio Antonio Zema & Pasquale Filianoti & Daniela D’Agostino & Antonino Labate & Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja & Angelo Nicotra & Santo Marcello Zimbone, 2020. "Analyzing the Performances of Water User Associations to Increase the Irrigation Sustainability: An Application of Multivariate Statistics to a Case Study in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Hamamouche, Meriem Farah & Kuper, Marcel & Amichi, Hichem & Lejars, Caroline & Ghodbani, Tarik, 2018. "New reading of Saharan agricultural transformation: Continuities of ancient oases and their extensions (Algeria)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 210-223.
    9. Jeanne PERRIER, 2019. "Les lois palestiniennes de l’eau : entre centralisation, décentralisation et mise en invisibilité," Working Paper f2757814-3bd9-4fc1-970d-2, Agence française de développement.
    10. Soumya Balasubramanya & Joseph P. G. Price & Theodore M. Horbulyk, 2018. "Impacts Assessments without True Baselines: Assessing the Relative Effects of Training on the Performance of Water User Associations in Southern Tajikistan," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(03), pages 1-28, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Balasubramanya, Soumya, 2019. "Effects of training duration and the role of gender on farm participation in water user associations in Southern Tajikistan: Implications for irrigation management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Zamani, Omid & Azadi, Hossein & Mortazavi, Seyed Abolghasem & Balali, Hamid & Moghaddam, Saghi Movahhed & Jurik, Lubos, 2021. "The impact of water-pricing policies on water productivity: Evidence of agriculture sector in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    3. Leroy, David, 2023. "An empirical assessment of the institutional performance of community-based water management in a large-scale irrigation system in southern Mexico," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    4. Giordano, Meredith A. & Samad, Madar & Namara, Regassa E., 2006. "Assessing the outcomes of IWMI’s research and interventions on irrigation management transfer," IWMI Research Reports 44524, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Senanayake, Nari & Mukherji, Aditi & Giordano, Mark, 2015. "Re-visiting what we know about Irrigation Management Transfer: A review of the evidence," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 175-186.
    6. Éva Pék & Imre Fertő & Stefania Giusti & Maher Salman, 2024. "Combined Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Ground-Level Impacts of Management Transfer to Poor Farmers in Developing Countries," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 38(5), pages 1737-1752, March.
    7. Rebecca Nixon & Francis Owusu, 2017. "Choice, Inclusion, and Access to Information: Understanding Female Farmers’ Participation in Kyrgyzstan’s Water-User Associations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    8. repec:iwt:jounls:h049394 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:iwt:worppr:h048782 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Nadeem Ul Haque & Faheem Jehangir Khan (ed.), 2022. "RASTA Local Research, Local Solutions: Political Economy Of Development Reform, Volume VI," PIDE Books, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, number 2022:6.
    11. Vafaei, Elahe & Shahabi Ahangarkolaee, Saeed & Lucas-Borja, Manuel Esteban & Shabanali Fami, Hossein & Zema, Demetrio Antonio, 2021. "A framework to evaluate the factors influencing groundwater management in Water User Associations: The case study of Tafresh County (Iran)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    12. Taleb Abu-Sharar & Emad Al-Karablieh & Munther Haddadin, 2012. "Role of Virtual Water in Optimizing Water Resources Management in Jordan," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(14), pages 3977-3993, November.
    13. Ehsan Qasemipour & Farhad Tarahomi & Markus Pahlow & Seyed Saeed Malek Sadati & Ali Abbasi, 2020. "Assessment of Virtual Water Flows in Iran Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    14. repec:iwt:conppr:h043480 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Agnes Quisumbing & Neha Kumar, 2011. "Does social capital build women's assets? The long-term impacts of group-based and individual dissemination of agricultural technology in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 220-242.
    16. Firat Arslan & Juan Ignacio Córcoles Tendero & Juan Antonio Rodríguez Díaz & Demetrio Antonio Zema, 2023. "Comparison of Irrigation Management in Water User Associations of Italy, Spain and Turkey Using Benchmarking Techniques," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(1), pages 55-74, January.
    17. Pomfret, Richard & Djanibekov, Nodir, 2022. "30 years of farm restructuring and water management reforms in Central Asia," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 49-56.
    18. Higgins, Daniel & Arslan, Aslihan & Winters, Paul, 2021. "What role can small-scale irrigation play in promoting inclusive rural transformation? Evidence from smallholder rice farmers in the Philippines," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    19. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2022. "From Margins to Centre: Relocating Youth Participation in Radical Politics of International Development," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 13(3), pages 45-58, May.
    20. Ogada, Maurice Juma, 2012. "Forest Management Decentralization in Kenya: Effects on Household Farm Forestry Decisions in Kakamega," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126319, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Prakashan Veettil & Stijn Speelman & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2013. "Estimating the Impact of Water Pricing on Water Use Efficiency in Semi-arid Cropping System: An Application of Probabilistically Constrained Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 55-73, January.
    22. Lankford, B. & Makin, Ian & Matthews, N. & McCornick, Peter G. & Noble, A. & Shah, Tushaar, "undated". "A compact to revitalise large-scale irrigation systems using a leadership-partnership-ownership 'Theory of Change'," Papers published in Journals (Open Access) H047459, International Water Management Institute.
    23. Lindsay C. Stringer & Mark S. Reed & Andrew J. Dougill & Mary K. Seely & Martin Rokitzki, 2007. "Implementing the UNCCD: Participatory challenges," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 31(3), pages 198-211, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:79:y:2016:i:c:p:164-176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.