IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i16p7435-d1726356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Semantic Governance Under Climate Stress: A Situational Grounded Model of Local Agricultural Irrigation Coordination in Taiwan

Author

Listed:
  • Tung-Shan Liao

    (College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan)

  • Chia-Hang Ruei

    (College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan)

Abstract

This study investigates how local governance actors in northern Taiwan navigate agricultural irrigation coordination under intensifying climate-induced water stress. Although conventional water governance models prioritize structural alignment and centralized integration, they frequently prove to be inadequate under conditions marked by institutional ambiguity and semantic volatility. Focusing on the transitional phase between early drought signaling and the formal implementation of water rationing, this research adopts Situational Grounded Theory (SGT) to examine how actors discursively interpret, negotiate, and adapt to evolving hydrological and institutional constraints. Based on unstructured interviews with irrigation officials, farmers, and public administrators, this study traces how expressions such as “under review” and “adjusting regionally” function as semantic instruments for deferral, alignment, and legitimacy building. These phrases are not merely rhetorical fillers; rather, they operate as situated mechanisms through which actors reposition their roles and recalibrate the meanings of governance. Through iterative coding, semantic clustering, and reflexive mapping grounded in SGT, this study develops the LAWFGS (Local Adaptive Water Governance under Flexible Governance Settings) framework. This tri-axial interpretive framework comprises three interrelated dimensions: (1) governance contexts, which captures the hydrological and institutional phase; (2) actor strategy roles, which reflect how actors adopt and shift their discursive positions; and (3) interpretive flexibility, which denotes the degree of semantic maneuvering exercised in response to governance tensions. The LAWFGS framework offers a situated analytical perspective for understanding how coordination is maintained through meaning-making practices under environmental pressure. The framework emphasizes the relational dynamics through which governance unfolds across shifting and often uncertain contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Tung-Shan Liao & Chia-Hang Ruei, 2025. "Semantic Governance Under Climate Stress: A Situational Grounded Model of Local Agricultural Irrigation Coordination in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-30, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7435-:d:1726356
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7435/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7435/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margreet Z. Zwarteveen & Rutgerd Boelens, 2014. "Defining, researching and struggling for water justice: some conceptual building blocks for research and action," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 143-158, March.
    2. Rutgerd Boelens & Jaime Hoogesteger & Erik Swyngedouw & Jeroen Vos & Philippus Wester, 2016. "Hydrosocial territories: a political ecology perspective," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Andrea Cornwall, 2007. "Buzzwords and fuzzwords: deconstructing development discourse," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4-5), pages 471-484.
    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. Filippo Menga & Michael K. Goodman, 2022. "The High Priests of Global Development: Capitalism, Religion and the Political Economy of Sacrifice in a Celebrity‐led Water Charity," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 705-735, July.
    2. Daniele T. P. Souza & Eugenia A. Kuhn & Arjen E. J. Wals & Pedro R. Jacobi, 2020. "Learning in, with, and through the Territory: Territory-Based Learning as a Catalyst for Urban Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Sandra Ricart & Antonio M. Rico-Amorós, 2022. "Can agriculture and conservation be compatible in a coastal wetland? Balancing stakeholders’ narratives and interactions in the management of El Hondo Natural Park, Spain," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 589-604, June.
    4. David A McDonald, 2016. "The weight of water: Benchmarking for public water services," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(11), pages 2181-2200, November.
    5. Buchs, Arnaud & Calvo-Mendieta, Iratxe & Petit, Olivier & Roman, Philippe, 2021. "Challenging the ecological economics of water: Social and political perspectives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    6. Bourgoin, Jeremy & Diop, Djibril & Jahel, Camille & Interdonato, Roberto & Grislain, Quentin, 2023. "Beyond land grabbing narratives, acknowledging patterns and regimes of land control in Senegal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    7. William Skinner & Georgina Drew & Douglas K. Bardsley, 2023. "“Half a flood’s no good”: flooding, viticulture, and hydrosocial terroir in a South Australian wine region," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 549-564, June.
    8. Luzma Fabiola Nava, 2025. "Bridging Governance Gaps: A Political Ecology Analysis of Water Challenges in Guanajuato, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Anderson, Heather K. & Price, Heather & Staddon, Sam, 2023. "Water poverty in a ‘Hydro Nation’: Exploring distributional and recognitional water injustice in Scotland," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Katherine L. Meierdiercks & Michael H. Finewood & Christianna Bennett, 2024. "Defining the term watershed to reflect modern uses and functions as inter- and intra-connected socio-hydrologic systems," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 14(2), pages 236-255, June.
    11. Astrid B Stensrud, 2019. "The social embeddedness of hydraulic engineers in the regulation of water and infrastructure in Peru," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(7), pages 1235-1251, November.
    12. Leonhard Klinck & Kingsley K. Ayisi & Johannes Isselstein, 2022. "Drought-Induced Challenges and Different Responses by Smallholder and Semicommercial Livestock Farmers in Semiarid Limpopo, South Africa—An Indicator-Based Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Nektarios N. Kourgialas, 2025. "Reconsidering the Soil–Water–Crops–Energy (SWCE) Nexus Under Climate Complexity—A Critical Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Hayden, Anders, 2025. "Buzzword or breakthrough beyond growth? The mainstreaming of the Wellbeing Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    15. Nygren, Anja, 2021. "Water and power, water’s power: State-making and socionature shaping volatile rivers and riverine people in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    16. Zack Zimbalist & Jorge Antonio Asprón Ramírez, 2024. "Teaching and researching International Development: Amplifying voices from the Global South," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(1), pages 127-145, January.
    17. Maria Giulia Cantaluppi & Marta De Marchi & Michela Pace & Maria Chiara Tosi, 2023. "Wetland Contracts as Sustainable Governance Tools: A Review of the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Coordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    18. Rossana Manosalvas & Jaime Hoogesteger & Rutgerd Boelens, 2023. "Imaginaries of place in territorialization processes: Transforming the Oyacachi páramos through nature conservation and water transfers in the Ecuadorian highlands," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(5), pages 1010-1028, August.
    19. Jichuan Sheng & Xiao Han, 2023. "Constructing payments for ecosystem services hydrosocial territories through assemblage practices: China’s Xin’an river basin eco-compensation pilot," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(2), pages 375-391, March.
    20. Claudio Rafael Mariano Baigún & Priscilla Gail Minotti, 2021. "Conserving the Paraguay-Paraná Fluvial Corridor in the XXI Century: Conflicts, Threats, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-28, May.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7435-:d:1726356. 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.