This article proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the resilience of water security at the scale of a river basin, thereby contributing to the ongoing scholarship on water security. Based on literature review, we apply systems thinking and resilience theories to encapsulate water security in a river basin as a system whose behaviour depends on the interaction of the component parts and the environment within which it occurs. The proposed framework has been built on the tenet that the resilience of any system such as that for water security depends on the interactions (the relationships) of the components of the particular system. We have thus argued that there is a relationship between resilience and the configurations of the system of water security. By exploring the Orange‐Senqu River Basin, we suggest that configurations of the system of water security that includes the interaction of actors within the river basin, the structure of institutions (including institutional regimes), governance mechanisms, the capacity of actors and so forth generate the changes in the behaviour of the system. This behaviour might enable the system of water security to move into a different regime. Depending on the nature of the regime, the system can be considered to be resilient or nonresilient to disturbances. Any attempt to better understand this system requires us to uncover the configurations of this system and how its parts interact with each other, and this is, therefore, the pathway to unlocking the potential of achieving water security at the scale of a river basin.

中文翻译：

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系统对水安全的看法：应用审查和概念框架

本文提出了一个概念框架，用于理解流域范围内水安全的复原力，从而为正在进行的水安全研究做出了贡献。基于文献综述，我们运用系统思想和弹性理论将流域的水安全性封装为一个系统，其行为取决于组成部分与环境的相互作用。拟议的框架基于以下原则：任何系统（例如水安全系统）的弹性都取决于特定系统各组成部分的相互作用（关系）。因此，我们认为，复原力与水安全系统的配置之间存在联系。通过探索奥兰治森曲河流域，我们建议水安全系统的配置，包括流域内参与者之间的相互作用，机构的结构（包括机构制度），治理机制，参与者的能力等，都会导致系统行为的变化。 。这种行为可能使水安全系统进入另一种制度。根据系统的性质，可以认为系统对干扰是有弹性的或无弹性的。试图更好地理解该系统的任何尝试都要求我们揭示该系统的配置及其各部分之间如何相互作用，因此，这是在流域范围内释放实现水安全潜力的途径。