IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i16p9305-d617459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Power to Legitimacy—Explaining Historical and Contemporary Water Conflict at Yesa Reservoir (Spain) and Gross Reservoir (USA) Using Path Dependency

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Turley

    (Environmental Governance and Territorial Development Hub, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland)

Abstract

Conflict over new dams and reservoirs is well-studied, but less is known about controversies over the reoperation of existing water infrastructure. This paper presents two cases of reoperation that have been embroiled in conflict: the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project in Colorado, United States, and the Yesa Reservoir Regrowth project in Aragon and Navarra, Spain. A historical analysis of each of the cases relies on process tracing, reaching back to their construction in the 1950s up to present day, and a cross-case comparison distills findings on the causes of historical and contemporary conflict. The paper adds empirical evidence to the phenomenon of path dependency, and argues that a transition of the dominant mechanism of institutional reproduction occurs in the cases—from power to legitimacy—which in turn informs us about the historical and present-day conflicts. We find that through the contemporary reoperation, water service providers are experiencing a legitimacy crisis related to the quickly-evolving values of water users, and their access to competing sources of knowledge and expertise.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Turley, 2021. "From Power to Legitimacy—Explaining Historical and Contemporary Water Conflict at Yesa Reservoir (Spain) and Gross Reservoir (USA) Using Path Dependency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9305-:d:617459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9305/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9305/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vivien A. Schmidt, 2013. "Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and ‘Throughput’," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 61(1), pages 2-22, March.
    2. Dustin Evan Garrick, 2015. "Water Allocation in Rivers under Pressure," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14857.
    3. Thelen,Kathleen, 2004. "How Institutions Evolve," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521837682.
    4. Ansar, Atif & Flyvbjerg, Bent & Budzier, Alexander & Lunn, Daniel, 2014. "Should we build more large dams? The actual costs of hydropower megaproject development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 43-56.
    5. Brian A. Ellison, 0. "Intergovernmental Relations and the Advocacy Coalition Framework: The Operation of Federalism in Denver Water Politics," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 28(4), pages 35-54.
    6. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2006. "Path dependence and regional economic evolution," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 395-437, August.
    7. Thelen,Kathleen, 2004. "How Institutions Evolve," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521546744.
    8. Gearey, Mary & Jeffrey, Paul, 2006. "Concepts of legitimacy within the context of adaptive water management strategies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 129-137, November.
    9. Alan Shapiro & Robert Summers, 2015. "The evolution of water management in Alberta, Canada: the influence of global management paradigms and path dependency," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 732-749, December.
    10. Pierson, Paul, 2000. "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(2), pages 251-267, June.
    11. Andre Sorensen, 2015. "Taking path dependence seriously: an historical institutionalist research agenda in planning history," Planning Perspectives, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 17-38, January.
    12. Wester, Philippus & Merrey, Douglas J. & de Lange, Marna, 2003. "Boundaries of Consent: Stakeholder Representation in River Basin Management in Mexico and South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 797-812, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ron Martin, 2010. "Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography—Rethinking Regional Path Dependence: Beyond Lock-in to Evolution," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 86(1), pages 1-27, January.
    2. Johann Fortwengel & Arne Keller, 2020. "Agency in the face of path dependence: how organizations can regain scope for maneuver," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 1169-1201, November.
    3. Yaping Liu & Jie Yu, 2022. "Path dependence in pro-poor tourism," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 973-993, January.
    4. Eriksson, Martin & Pettersson, Thomas, 2012. "Adapting to liberalization: government procurement of interregional passenger transports in Sweden, 1989–2008," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 182-188.
    5. Denyer Willis, Graham & Mota Prado, Mariana, 2014. "Process and Pattern in Institutional Reforms: A Case Study of the Police Pacifying Units (UPPs) in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 232-242.
    6. Isti Hidayati & Claudia Yamu & Wendy Tan, 2019. "The Emergence of Mobility Inequality in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia: A Socio-Spatial Analysis of Path Dependencies in Transport–Land Use Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Kabbashi M. Suliman, 2016. "The Political Economy of Fiscal Institutions and Macroeconomic Management in Sudan," Working Papers 1044, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jan 2016.
    8. Kathleen Thelen, 2009. "Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(3), pages 471-498, September.
    9. Vania Palmieri & Mario Turco, 2020. "Crisi e cambiamento delle istituzioni di contabilit? pubblica. Il caso delle amministrazioni centrali dello Stato," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(3), pages 87-112.
    10. Cerami, Alfio, 2006. "The Politics of Reforms in Bismarckian Welfare Systems: The Cases of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia," MPRA Paper 92271, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Dieleman, Marleen & Markus, Stanislav & Rajwani, Tazeeb & White, George O., 2022. "Revisiting Institutional Voids: Advancing the International Business Literature by Leveraging Social Sciences," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    12. Gerschewski, Johannes, 2021. "Explanations of Institutional Change: Reflecting on a “Missing Diagonal”," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 115(1), pages 218-233.
    13. Minh Thị Hải Võ & Karl Löfgren, 2019. "An institutional analysis of the fiscal autonomy of public hospitals in Vietnam," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 90-107, January.
    14. Gerschewski, Johannes, 2021. "Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 43-62.
    15. Blanck, Jonna M. & Edelstein, Benjamin & Powell, Justin J.W., 2013. "Von der schulischen Segregation zur inklusiven Bildung? Die Wirkung der UN-Konvention über die Rechte von Menschen mit Behinderungen auf Bildungsreformen in Bayern und Schleswig-Holstein," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Skill Formation and Labor Markets SP I 2013-504, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    16. André Lecours, 2014. "The Question of Federalism in Nepal," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 609-632.
    17. Hanrieder, Tine, 2015. "The path-dependent design of international organizations: Federalism in the World Health Organization," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 21(1), pages 215-239.
    18. Raoul Beunen & Kristof Van Assche & Monica Gruezmacher, 2022. "Evolutionary Perspectives on Environmental Governance: Strategy and the Co-Construction of Governance, Community, and Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Ghimire Kanksha Mahadevia, 2018. "Path Dependence, Abnormal Times and Missed Opportunities: Case Studies of Catastrophic Natural Disasters From India and Nepal," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 31-76, January.
    20. Lähteenmäki, Jarno, 2021. "The evolution paths of neutral host businesses: Antecedents, strategies, and business models," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9305-:d:617459. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.