ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the challenges of compliance and noncompliance in the macro-level or multi-level setting of interstate river allocation agreements (aka compacts) in the United States. It first describes the conditions under which compliance problems arise in interstate compact settings, particularly as they relate to key features of the compliance context, as identified in this book’s framework. These include actors’ capacity to encourage rule-following behavior, the compatibility of rules governing water allocation, and monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. It also explores the dynamics of compliance behaviors, as illustrated by the strategies that actors use to maintain or restore compliance when compliance is challenged. In exploring those strategies, this chapter considers the feedback effects of compliance outcomes on the compliance context. This includes understanding how compact commissions, states, and water users reshape the compliance context by building or enhancing their capacity, rule compatibility, and monitoring and enforcement.
