Explaining societal change through bricolage: Transformations in regimes of water governance

This paper is motivated by the pressing need to understand how water use and irrigated agriculture can be transformed in the interests of both social and environmental sustainability. How can such change come about? In particular, given the generally mixed results of simplified, state-initiated projects of social engineering, what is the potential for transformations in societal regimes of governance to be anchored in the everyday practices of farmers? In this paper, we address these enduring questions in novel ways. We argue that the concept of bricolage, commonly applied to analysing community management of resources, can be developed and deployed to explain broad societal processes of change. To illustrate this, we draw on case studies of irrigated agriculture in Saharan areas of Algeria and in the occupied Golan Heights in Syria. Our case analysis offers insights into how processes of institutional, technological and ideational bricolage entwine, how the state becomes implicated in them and how multiple instances of bricolage accumulate over time to produce meaningful systemic change. In concluding, however, we reflect on the greater propensity of contemporary bricolage to rebalance power relations than to open the way to more ecological farming practices.

Automated summary

This paper explores the transformation of water use and irrigated agriculture in the interests of social and environmental sustainability. It discusses the potential for societal governance changes to be grounded in the practices of farmers and proposes the concept of bricolage to explain societal processes of change. Drawing on case studies in Saharan areas of Algeria and the occupied Golan Heights in Syria, the paper highlights the role of institutional, technological, and ideational bricolage in producing meaningful systemic change. However, it also reflects on the limited impact of contemporary bricolage on promoting ecological farming practices.