Water governance regimes : dimensions and dynamics

The concept of water governance is distinctive through its focus on not only public intervention, but also on self-organisation as a way to deal with water issues. At first is elaborated a framework with five dimensions to describe governance regimes. Thereafter is illustrated and used an analytical framework with a cross country comparison of the evolution towards more integrated water governance regimes. Furthermore four qualities of such regimes are introduced and used to assess the degree to which a governance regime is support- ive for integral and adaptive water management. Lastly the article explores how governance regimes evolve over time and what forces shape this combination of stability and dynamics. [authors abstract]