Abstract

Collaborative watershed institutions (CWIs) have been promoted as effective vehicles for facilitating decentralization and collaboration between government and local stakeholders in both developed and less developed nations. While governmental actors may see CWIs as a means to increase stakeholder participation, they may also use a variety of mechanisms to influence these institutions to advance agency policies. This article describes the authors’ experiences with CWIs in two very different contexts: the state of Ohio (USA) and the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. Using the Government Impacts Framework, the authors identify mechanisms by which government institutions influence CWI form and function. The degree and nature of impacts of governmental influence varies across CWIs, but, in general, CWIs that are closely aligned with government agency priorities experience fewer and less disruptive impacts. This influence can, in some instances, hinder efforts to decentralize water resource management, and instead reinforce existing centralized power structures.

摘要

协作流域机构 (CWI) 已被推广为促进发达国家和欠发达国家政府与地方利益相关者之间权力下放和协作的有效工具。虽然政府行为者可能将 CWI 视为增加利益相关者参与的一种手段，但他们也可能使用各种机制来影响这些机构以推进机构政策。本文描述了作者在两种截然不同的背景下与 CWI 相处的经历：俄亥俄州（美国）和加勒比海国家多米尼加共和国。使用政府影响框架，作者确定了政府机构影响 CWI 形式和功能的机制。政府影响的影响程度和性质因 CWI 而异，但总的来说，与政府机构优先事项密切相关的 CWI 受到的破坏性影响越来越少。在某些情况下，这种影响会阻碍分散水资源管理的努力，反而会加强现有的集中权力结构。