Abstract
Water governance strongly depends on the institutional arrangements in place. The plethora of recent inquiries into the adequacy and integrity of governance arrangements in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) indicates a crisis of trust, legitimacy and public confidence–in short, a loss of authority. With the prospect that current arrangements are losing the authority and legitimacy needed to govern the Basin, pressure is mounting for further reforms due to scandals exposed in the media throughout 2017 and 2018. These and subsequent inquiries have revealed serious concerns about probity, integrity, maladministration and the adequacy of compliance and enforcement regimes. The productive potential of this crisis is that draws attention to the need for reforms to governance institutions. This paper aims to explore the redesign of the institutional architecture in the MDB. Given the profound challenges of social and climate change that are demanding reconsideration of the underlying models used in adaptively governing large complex socio-ecological systems, the paper asks what arrangements are suited to the challenges of governing the Basin in the 21 st century? This paper explores the nature of the redesign challenge, exploring principles, practices and features of MDB governance. The need for institutions with capacity for strategic navigation, goal seeking and the cultural co-construction of authority are suggested in the interests of cultivating debate about prospective reorganisation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-17 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of Water Resources |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 12 Mar 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Losing the authority : What institutional architecture for cooperative governance in the Murray Darling Basin? / Alexandra, Jason.
In: Australian Journal of Water Resources, 12.03.2019, p. 1-17.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Losing the authority
T2 - What institutional architecture for cooperative governance in the Murray Darling Basin?
AU - Alexandra, Jason
PY - 2019/3/12
Y1 - 2019/3/12
N2 - Water governance strongly depends on the institutional arrangements in place. The plethora of recent inquiries into the adequacy and integrity of governance arrangements in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) indicates a crisis of trust, legitimacy and public confidence–in short, a loss of authority. With the prospect that current arrangements are losing the authority and legitimacy needed to govern the Basin, pressure is mounting for further reforms due to scandals exposed in the media throughout 2017 and 2018. These and subsequent inquiries have revealed serious concerns about probity, integrity, maladministration and the adequacy of compliance and enforcement regimes. The productive potential of this crisis is that draws attention to the need for reforms to governance institutions. This paper aims to explore the redesign of the institutional architecture in the MDB. Given the profound challenges of social and climate change that are demanding reconsideration of the underlying models used in adaptively governing large complex socio-ecological systems, the paper asks what arrangements are suited to the challenges of governing the Basin in the 21 st century? This paper explores the nature of the redesign challenge, exploring principles, practices and features of MDB governance. The need for institutions with capacity for strategic navigation, goal seeking and the cultural co-construction of authority are suggested in the interests of cultivating debate about prospective reorganisation.
AB - Water governance strongly depends on the institutional arrangements in place. The plethora of recent inquiries into the adequacy and integrity of governance arrangements in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) indicates a crisis of trust, legitimacy and public confidence–in short, a loss of authority. With the prospect that current arrangements are losing the authority and legitimacy needed to govern the Basin, pressure is mounting for further reforms due to scandals exposed in the media throughout 2017 and 2018. These and subsequent inquiries have revealed serious concerns about probity, integrity, maladministration and the adequacy of compliance and enforcement regimes. The productive potential of this crisis is that draws attention to the need for reforms to governance institutions. This paper aims to explore the redesign of the institutional architecture in the MDB. Given the profound challenges of social and climate change that are demanding reconsideration of the underlying models used in adaptively governing large complex socio-ecological systems, the paper asks what arrangements are suited to the challenges of governing the Basin in the 21 st century? This paper explores the nature of the redesign challenge, exploring principles, practices and features of MDB governance. The need for institutions with capacity for strategic navigation, goal seeking and the cultural co-construction of authority are suggested in the interests of cultivating debate about prospective reorganisation.
KW - co-production of authority
KW - institutional architecture
KW - Institutional arrangements
KW - legitimacy
KW - Murray Darling Basin
KW - water governance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062768162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/losing-authoritywhat-institutional-architecture-cooperative-governance-murray-darling-basin
U2 - 10.1080/13241583.2019.1586066
DO - 10.1080/13241583.2019.1586066
M3 - Article
SP - 1
EP - 17
JO - Australian Journal of Water Resources
JF - Australian Journal of Water Resources
SN - 1324-1583
ER -