Practical Authority: Agency and Institutional Change in Brazilian Water Politics

288 Pages·2013·2.33 MB·English

by  Rebecca Neaera Abers, Margaret E. Keck

Practical Authority
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Practical Authority
Agency and Institutional Change
in Brazilian Water Politics
Rebecca Neaera Abers
and
Margaret E. Keck

3
3

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abers, Rebecca.
Practical authority : agency and institutional change in Brazilian
water politics / Rebecca Neaera Abers, Margaret E. Keck.
pages cm
Summary: “New institutions don’t come into being by themselves: Th ey have to be organized. On the
basis of research from a decade-long, multi-site study of eff orts to transform freshwater management
in Brazil, Practical Authority asks how new institutional arrangements established by law become
operational in practice”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978–0–19–998526–5 (hardback)—ISBN 978–0–19–998527–2 (paperback)
1. Water-supply—Brazil—Management. 2. Water-supply—Political aspects—Brazil.
3. Water resources development—Political aspects—Brazil. 4. Hydrology—Brazil.
5. Fresh water—Brazil. 6. Brazil—Politics and government—1985–2002.
I. Keck, Margaret E. II.
Title.
TD241.A1A34 2013
333.9100981—dc23
2013003846
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
We dedicate this book to our children, Nina, Th omas, Laura, and Melissa
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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Prologue xvii
1. Practical Authority, Institution Building, and Entanglement 1
2. Entangled Institutions and Layered Reform Narratives: Governing
Water Resources in Historical Context 30
3. Institutional Design in Entangled Sett ings: How to Make an
Unfi nished Law 5 5
4. Practicing Laws: Experiments with Institution Building 84
5. Becoming Committ ees: Diversity, Problems, and Processes 1 11
6. Diversions of Authority: Power, Perseverance, and Struggles
over the Control of Water Resources 1 43
7. Building Practical Authority from Outside the State 168
Conclusions 1 95
Appendix 1: Methodological Narrative 2 11
Appendix 2: List of Interviews 223
References 231
Index 253
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing books, like building institutions, is a slow and messy process that
depends on the help of very many people. In this case, their numbers are
especially large. Th e ideas that went into this book began to germinate more
than 12 years ago with the creation of the Watermark Project, the idea for
which grew out of discussions with Rosa Maria Formiga Johnsson and
Gerôncio Albuquerque Rocha and spread to include many more. Dozens
of people participated in the project’s research, and hundreds more have
collaborated. Many of them have shared information and insights, some
repeatedly; some have become friends. People involved in and outside of
water management reform, in Brazil and elsewhere, have taken an interest
in what we were doing and encouraged us to do more. We cannot possibly
thank all of them individually, but we are deeply grateful to all of them.
A small group of women who became the core of the Watermark Project
during most of its duration were our soul mates and helped to formulate
some of the central ideas in this book, especially Rosa Formiga Johnsson,
Beate Frank, and Manuela Moreira. Our thinking was also infl uenced by
the many long conversations we had with Maria Carmen Lemos, Vanessa
Empinott i, Ricardo Gutiérrez, Rosa Mancini, Rosana Garjulli, Gerôncio
Rocha, Wilde Cardoso, Oscar Cordeiro, and Bruno Pagnoccheschi.
Paula Lopes, Karina Jorge, and Nilda Matos provided crucial operational
support for the research process, besides doing research themselves. Ana
Karine Pereira conducted dozens of interviews for us in the fi eld. Cristina
Saliba and Jackson de Toni also conducted interviews. Paula Lopes kindly
supplied us with the tapes of her interviews from the Piracicaba basin.
Yehonatan Abramson commented on the work and helped us format the
manuscript and bibliography. Mimi Abers and Ruy Lucas de Souza helped
with fi gures and the map.
Th e detailed comments we received from people who read conference
papers and chapters have been crucial for honing our ideas and think-
ing of new and, we hope, bett er ones. We are grateful to Adrian Gurza
Lavalle, Alex Livingston, Alison Post, Anna Gruben, Bill Connolly, Brian
Wampler, Chris Ansell, Clovis Henrique de Souza, Erin Chung, Evelina