Local Capacities and the Failure of State-Centric Policymaking: Contexts for Redefining Participatory Water Governance in Kurdistan Province

دانش مهر, حسین; Hedayat, Osmaan

doi:10.22054/qjsd.2025.86359.2685

Local Capacities and the Failure of State-Centric Policymaking: Contexts for Redefining Participatory Water Governance in Kurdistan Province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

حسین دانش مهر ¹

Osmaan Hedayat ²

¹ Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Kurdistan

² Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kurdistan, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22054/qjsd.2025.86359.2685

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to adopt participatory strategies with an emphasis on the capacities of the local community in the policymaking of water resources management in Kurdistan province. Considering the water crisis and its consequences in the villages of Dehgolan and Qorveh counties in Kurdistan province, as well as the failure of top-down participatory approaches and, consequently, the inefficiency of structural and government-centered approaches dominant in policymaking, the redefinition and re-introduction of participatory policymaking in the field of water resources management is doubly important and necessary. Therefore, by adopting the participatory governance approach and the Ansel and Gash model, we seek to explain the policies, institutional and local actions, and their compatibility with the indicators of participatory water governance, and ultimately; to adopt participatory strategies emerging from the studied field. The method adopted, considering the contextual nature of the data, is based on the qualitative tradition and, within it, thematic analysis. For this purpose, , t Increasing the deterrent power of laws and incentive policies should also be adopted by institutions to facilitate this process. Finally, considering the weakness of synergistic participatory governance, participatory strategies, the formation of local committees, the development of digital technology and public awareness, participatory dialogue, and legitimacy-based participation can be proposed as a middle-ground participatory approach between the responsible institutions and farmers.

Keywords

Water Resources Governance

Participatory Water Governance

Participatory Strategies

Thematic Analysis

Kurdistan Province

Subjects

۸۰/۵۰۰۰ Social Development Social Welfare Globalization Family abuse Job Satisfaction social participation

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