The Field of Water Policy
Power and Scarcity in the American Southwest
By Franck Poupeau
Brian F. O'Neill
Joan Cortinas Muñoz
Murielle Coeurdray
Eliza Benites-Gambirazio
Routledge
Routledge Advances in Sociology
2019
Présentation de l'éditeur
Bringing together the analysis of a diverse team of social scientists,
this book proposes a new approach to environmental problems. Cutting
through the fragmented perspectives on water crises, it seeks to shift
the analytic perspectives on water policy by looking at the social
logics behind environmental issues. Most importantly, it analyzes the
dynamic influences on water management, as well as the social and
institutional forces that orient water and conservation policies. The
first work of its kind, The Field of Water Policy: Power and Scarcity in the American Southwest brings
the tools of Pierre Bourdieu’s field sociology to bear on a moment of
environmental crisis, with a study of the logics of water policy in the
American Southwest, a region that allows us to see the contest over the
management of scarce resources in a context of lasting drought. As such,
it will appeal to scholars in the social and political sciences with
interests in the environment and the management of natural resources.
Table of Contents
Introduction – A Sociological Perspective on Water Policy
1. Engineering Arid Spaces: The Emergence of Western Hydrocracies
2. Supporting the Economic Order: Urban Sprawl and Coalitions for Growth
3. Reinventing Water Conservation: Institutions for Sustainability
4. Sharing Flows: New Professionals with Old Methods
5. Implementing Water Policy: Instruments and their Social Uses in the Colorado River Basin
Conclusion – Dealing with Scarcity
Annex #1 – Revisiting the Laws of the River
Annex #2 – Statistical Analysis
Franck Poupeau is
Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific
Research (CNRS) and he has been the co-director of the joint
international unit for Interdisciplinary and Global Environmental
Studies (UMI iGLOBES, CNRS/University of Arizona) from 2012 to 2017. He
is the co-editor of several books on water policy: Water Bankruptcy in the Land of Plenty (2016), Water Regimes: Beyond the Public and Private Sector Debate (2016), Water Conflicts and Hydrocracy in the Americas: Coalitions, Networks, Policies (2018).
Brian F. O’Neill is a doctoral candidate in the Department
of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA,
and at the Center for Research and Documentation on the Americas (CREDA,
CNRS/Université Paris III La Sorbonne Nouvelle).
Joan Cortinas Muñoz is a postdoctoral researcher at the
Centre de Sociologie des Organisations, Sciences Po Paris, France.
Previously, he worked at the UMI iGLOBES, CNRS/University of Arizona.
Murielle Coeurdray is a postdoctoral researcher at the UMI iGLOBES, CNRS/University of Arizona.
Eliza Benites-Gambirazio is a doctoral candidate in the
Department of Sociology at the University of Arizona, USA, and at the
Center for Research and Documentation on the Americas (CREDA,
CNRS/Université Paris III La Sorbonne Nouvelle).
