Making the Local, Global: Subnational Actor Roles in Binational Water Governance

• In Event: Water Politics and Governance

Abstract

International policy negotiations that have historically been dominated by sovereign nations are increasingly integrating collaboration with local governments and civil society groups into decision-making and implementation processes. Examples include the multilateral Paris Climate Agreement, and various bi- or multi-national negotiations over natural resources such as fisheries and water resources. However, we still know relatively little about the concrete ways in which the active participation of sub-national actors in these international policy spaces may influence policy negotiation and subsequent implementation, and how sub-national actors generate and wield power in these negotiations despite their limited jurisdictions.

We address this question qualitatively through a comparative study of four international river basins in North America with ongoing bilateral policy negotiations to address transboundary water quality issues – the Tijuana River, the Rio Grande, the Red River of the North, and Rainy Lake of the Woods. In each river basin, local governments and civil society actors have been formally incorporated into binational negotiations to varying degrees. Using analysis of over 200 archived records of these negotiations, along with observations and interviews with participants, we document the roles that local government and civil society actors have played in the policy process in each basin, and how these actors are able to leverage or generate power and influence. Preliminary findings suggest that local government and civil society actors are most influential on final policy decisions when they are able to mobilize relevant constituents to generate political pressure, and when acting as coalition-builders through relevant binational networks of mutual interest and local knowledge.

Author

• Gemma Smith, Stanford University