Hydroparadigms

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Environmental Policy grade: 10 University of Luzern language: English abstract: This paper discusses the question what kind of Hydroparadigms exist and which dominate the development discourses in Global Water Governance (GWG) in the UN. Theoretically I draw on non-critical elements of discourse theory as well as a social constructivist framework and concep-tualize Hydroparadigms as the underlying logics and „policy philosophies? as to how to solve or mitigate the global water crisis. I argue that the actors in GWG are driven by such paradigms which are central not only to problem perceptions and policy proposals but also for eventual re-gime formation. Then based on a literature review I deduct a typology system proposing a three-dimensional map of Hydroparadigms ideal types each with their specific problem definition values norms policy implications and varying concepts of sustainability. The subsequent dis-course analysis is guided by a pragmatic approach seeing the method as a special text-analysis that is not so theory-laden. Offering a broad overview of UN actors? discourses I conclude that there are four existing and distinct Hydroparadigms - statist community-based economic and integrated approaches - and that the latter are clearly dominant.