Water, infrastructure and political rule: Introduction to the special issue [Water, infrastructure and political rule]

This introductory article sets the scene for this special issue on water, infrastructure and political rule. It makes the case for revisiting the complex relationships between these three dimensions which have fascinated scholars since Wittfogel’s pioneering – if much criticised – work on causal links between large-scale irrigation systems and autocratic leadership. Scholarship on water, on infrastructure, as well as on political rule has made huge advances since Wittfogel’s days, requiring a wholesome reappraisal of their triangular relationship. In this article, we review the relevant advances in scientific knowledge and epistemological approaches on each dimension. We subsequently summarise the different ways in which each of the following papers takes up and interrogates the relationship between water, infrastructure and political rule prior to the final paper which synthesises the principal findings emerging from the special issue

Water and the (infra-)structure of political rule: A synthesis

This synthesis paper engages with the key messages which emerge from across the eight papers in this special issue. It situates them in the context of Wittfogel’s hydraulic hypothesis and its legacy. The paper seeks to synthesise the insights of the papers with the aim to reinterpret the relationship between water, infrastructure and political rule and to provide a stimulus for further research

IWRM and the Politics of Scale: Rescaling Water Governance in Uzbekistan

Over the last two decades, politics of scale and rescaling processes in relation to water have been debated by several scholars, especially by geographers and political ecologists, who emphasized their socio-political nature and their interactions with the environment. By contributing to this debate, this paper analyses rescaling processes in water governance in relation to the implementation politics of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Uzbekistan. IWRM and related initiatives were promoted worldwide, especially in the “Global South”. These initiatives proposed the shift in water governance from administrative to hydrographic, or river basin, units. Empirically, the analysis focuses on the Middle Zeravshan valley in Uzbekistan, where IWRM was promoted as a part of post-Soviet water reforms. The analysis demonstrates that rescaling water governance towards IWRM and hydrographic units is inherently political. The evidence shows that the process is deeply interlinked with interests and power of Uzbek hydraulic bureaucracies at multiple scales. Firstly, the IWRM sponsored establishment of hydrographic units coincided with a recentralization of water management, supported by national hydraulic bureaucracies. Secondly, the design of the hydrographic unit and related boundaries in the Middle Zeravshan valley was driven by controversial multi-scalar power dynamics and relations between national and province levels, which emphasized the complexity and the multi-scalar nature of rescaling processes rooted in Post-Soviet political transformations

Water, infrastructure and political rule

This introductory article sets the scene for this special issue on water, infrastructure and political rule. It makes the case for revisiting the complex relationships between these three dimensions which have fascinated scholars since Wittfogel’s pioneering – if much criticised – work on causal links between large-scale irrigation systems and autocratic leadership. Scholarship on water, on infrastructure, as well as on political rule has made huge advances since Wittfogel’s days, requiring a wholesome reappraisal of their triangular relationship. In this article, we review the relevant advances in scientific knowledge and epistemological approaches on each dimension. We subsequently summarise the different ways in which each of the following papers takes up and interrogates the relationship between water, infrastructure and political rule prior to the final paper which synthesises the principal findings emerging from the special issue.Peer Reviewe

Erholung in siedlungsnahen Wäldern: Früher, heute und in Zukunft

Siedlungsnahe Wälder gehören zu den beliebtesten Naherholungsräumen und werden für Freizeitaktivitäten stark genutzt. Die Infrastruktur im Wald könnte jedoch verbessert und noch wirksamer für den Menschen ausgestaltet werden. Oftmals könnte mit wenigen Mitteln viel erreicht werden. Damit könnte ein spürbarer Beitrag für die psychische und physische Gesundheit aller Waldnutzer:innen geleistet werden. In dieser Publikation werden beispielhaft konkrete Massnahmen zur Verbesserung der Erholungsqualitäten im Wald aufgezeigt. Eine Toolbox unterstützt die Arbeit an der Erholungsplanung und es werden Handlungsempfehlungen für den Planungsprozess gegeben. Beispielhafte Erholungswälder zeigen, welchen besonderen Wert die Waldgebiete für die Bevölkerung erhalten können, wenn verschiedene Aspekte gut berücksichtigt sind. Das Buch eignet sich als anregende Ideensammlung und Wahrnehmungsschärfung bei der eigenen Arbeit im und am Wald und gibt Hinweise zur Weiterentwicklung von gesetzlichen und planerischen Grundlagen, Planungsprozessen und Fachwissen