ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT: To free water resource management from both traditional Western interests favoring in particular the US and Europe and likewise from the political interests of those in power in developing countries, water scientists and practitioners must take a critical look at today’s prevailing concepts of “good governance”, including water governance, and integrated water resource management (IWRM). The primarily Western biases of good governance concepts have not led to the progress predicted by the theory, which is shown by confronting how Conca’s (2006) articulated good governance conditions of territory, authority and knowledge often fall prey to national and power interests. The key to the way forward is a higher and sufficient degree of self-reflection and honest observation of the actual empirical evidence of what does and does not work in water management, particularly in developing countries.