Resilience is a multidimensional concept that is increasingly used to understand environmental change in hydrological systems. Yet, the current discussion about water governance and resilience remains relatively limited, with resilience typically seen as a normative outcome for governance (i.e., to be resilient against change). Using a theoretical multiplicity approach, we explore how the theories of social-ecological systems (SES), resilience and interactive (water) governance can provide new insights for water governance studies. We propose a resilience–governance framework that captures the partly overlapping but distinct characteristics from these three theories. The framework aims to develop a more nuanced way of using resilience-thinking for water governance, viewing resilience as a function of three capacities (absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacity) and noting the simultaneous existence of three interpretations for resilience (as a property, process and outcome) across different scales. The framework also considers issues of power and equity, which are often missing from resilience framings. We illustrate the framework with two case studies – the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia and a small sub-catchment of the Limpopo River Basin in South Africa – to provide two distinct examples of the possibilities of resilient governance. Finally, we consider what the framework suggests more broadly for ongoing discussions around resilience and water governance, including the possibilities for governance to also ‘bounce forward’ – i.e., transform – to a new, improved state. We argue that resilience-thinking may be valuable in understanding governance characteristics and guiding governance processes, in addition to seeing resilience (just) as a normative end-goal. In this way, the article supports an epistemological shift away from focusing on institutional structure, towards capturing the dynamic processes within governing systems.

复原力是一个多维概念，越来越多地用于理解水文系统的环境变化。然而，目前关于水治理和复原力的讨论仍然相对有限，复原力通常被视为治理的规范性结果（即，对变化具有复原力）。使用理论多元性方法，我们探索社会生态系统 (SES)、复原力和互动（水）治理理论如何为水治理研究提供新的见解。我们提出了一个弹性治理框架，该框架捕捉了这三种理论部分重叠但不同的特征。该框架旨在开发一种更细致入微的方式，将复原力思维用于水治理，将复原力视为三种能力（吸收能力、适应和变革能力），并注意到在不同尺度上同时存在对复原力（作为属性、过程和结果）的三种解释。该框架还考虑了权力和公平问题，这些问题在弹性框架中经常被忽略。我们通过两个案例研究来说明该框架——柬埔寨的洞里萨湖和南非林波波河流域的一个小流域——以提供两个不同的例子来说明弹性治理的可能性。最后，我们考虑该框架对围绕复原力和水治理的持续讨论的更广泛建议，包括治理也“反弹”（即转变）到一个新的、改进的状态的可能性。我们认为，除了将弹性（仅）视为规范的最终目标之外，弹性思维在理解治理特征和指导治理过程方面可能很有价值。通过这种方式，本文支持从关注制度结构到捕捉治理系统内的动态过程的认识论转变。