Capability, sustainability, and collective action: an examination of a river water dispute

Anand, P B (2007): Capability, sustainability, and collective action: an examination of a river water dispute. Published in: Journal of Human Development , Vol. 8, No. 1 (March 2007): pp. 109-132.

Abstract

In this paper, a framework is developed to consider collective action, sustainability and the capability approach with regard to resolution of water disputes, followed by a brief discussion of how identity can hinder cooperation or the development of universalism. This framework is then examined with a case study of the Cauvery river dispute in India. At the heart of river water disputes are issues related to justice and fairness, which depend to a significant extent on: how citizens perceive their claims over river water (shaped by cultural and historical factors); the extent to which citizens are able to collectivize their claims through location, economic activity and identity, and use their voice to influence the state; the extent to which the state policy and actions reflect the ‘voice’ and collective interests of different groups; and how the various riparian states recognize and deal with each other’s’ claims. The framework discussed here suggests that the capability approach provides us with a much broader framework than collective action or Robert Solow’s sustainability as inter-generational fairness. These are conjectures for further exploration.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Capability approach, collective action, river water dispute, Cauvery, conflict resolution
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q25 - Water

References

Anand, P.B. (2003) ‘From conflict to co-operation: some design issues for local collective action institutions’, Journal of International Development, 15(2), pp. 231–243.

Anand, P.B. (2004a) ‘Financing the provision of global public goods’, World Economy, 27(2), pp. 215–237.

Anand, P.B. (2004b) Water and Identity: An Analysis of the Cauvery River Water Dispute, BCID Research Paper number 3, University of Bradford, Bradford.

Anand, P.B. (2006a) The Millennium Development Goal 7: An Assessment of Progress with Respect to Water and Sanitation – Legacy, Synergy, Complacency or Policy?, WIDER Research Paper RP-1/2006, UNU/WIDER, Helsinki.

Anand, P.B. (2006b) ‘‘‘Right’’ to water and access to water: a critical examination using a capability approach’, paper presented at the Human Development and Capability Association’s Annual Conference, Groningen, 30 August–1 September.

Anand, S. and Sen, A. (2000) ‘Human development and economic sustainability’, World Development, 28(12), pp. 2029–2049.

Appiah, K.T. (2001) ‘The state and the shaping of identity’, Tanner Lecture on Human Values, Clare College, Cambridge.

Bardhan, P. (1995) ‘Rational fools and co-operation in a poor, hydraulic economy’, in K. Basu, P. Pattanayak and K. Suzumura (Eds), Choice, Welfare and Development: A Festschrift in Honour of Amartya Sen, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Bardhan, P. (2000) ‘Irrigation and cooperation: an empirical analysis of 48 irrigation communities in South India’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 48(4), pp. 847–866.

Bardhan, P. (2004) Scarcity, Conflicts, and Co-operation, The MIT Press, Cambridge.

Barrett, S. (1994) ‘Self-enforcing international environmental agreements’, Oxford Economic Papers, 46, pp. 878–894.

Basu, K., Pattanayak, P. and Suzumura, K. (Eds) (1995) Choice, Welfare and Development: A Festschrift in Honour of Amarlya Sen, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Bhatia, B. (1992) Lush Fields and Parched Throats: The Political Economy of Groundwater in Gujarat, Working Paper No.100, UNU-WIDER, Helsinki.

Biswas, A., Unver, O. and Tortajada, C. (Eds) (2004) Water as a Focus for Regional Development, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Coase, R. (1960) ‘The problem of social cost’, Journal of Law and Economics, 3(1), pp. 1–44.

de Villiers, M. (1999) Water Wars: Is the World’s Water Running Out?, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London. Dixit, A. and Nalebuff, B. (1991) Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday life, W.W. Norton and Co., New York.

Fraser, N. (1996) ‘Social justice in the age of identity politics: redistribution, recognition,and participation’, Tanner Lectures on Human Values, Stanford University [http://www.tannerlectures.utah.edu/lectures/Fraser98.pdf].

Government of India (1987) National Water Policy, Government of India, Delhi.

Government of India (2002) National Water Policy, Government of India, Delhi.

Government of Karnataka (n.d.) Cauvery Water Dispute: Saga of a Century Old Thirst for Water, Irrigation Department, Bangalore.

Government of Karnataka (2002) Cauvery Water Dispute: People’s Struggle for Rightful Share, Water Resource Department, Bangalore.

Government of Karnataka (2003) Cauvery Water Dispute: People’s Struggle for Rightful Share, volume 2, Water Resource Department, Bangalore.

Guhan, S. (1993) The Cauvery River Dispute: Towards Conciliation, Kasturi Publications, Madras.

Hall, S. (2000) ‘Who needs ‘‘identity’’?’, in P. du Gay, J. Evans and P. Redman (Eds), Identity: A Reader, Sage, London.

Homer-Dixon, T. (1998) ‘Environmental scarcities and violent conflict: evidence from cases’, in M. Brown, O. Cote Jr., S. Lynn-Jones and S. Miller (Eds), Theories of War and Peace: An International Security Reader, The MIT Press, Cambridge.

Iyer, R.R. (1999) ‘Conflict-resolution: three river treaties’, Economic and Political Weekly, 34(24), pp. 1509–1518.

McFadden, D. (1999) ‘Rationality for economists?’, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty,19(1/3), pp. 73–105.

Menon, P. (2003) ‘Death and distress’, Frontline, 20(24) [http://www.frontlineonnet. com/fl2024/stories/20031205002603700.htm].

Ohlsson, L. (Ed.) (1995) Hydropolitics: Conflicts over Water as a Development Constraint, Zed Books, London.

Olson, M. (1965) The Logic of Collective Action, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

Rijsberman, F. (2004) ‘Sanitation and access to clean water’, in B. Lomburg (Ed.), Global Crises, Global Solutions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Salman, S. (2002) ‘Inter-state water disputes in India: an analysis of the settlement process’, Water Policy, 4, pp. 223–237.

Sandler, T. (1992) Collective Action, Michigan University Press, Ann Arbor.

Schick, F. (1997) Making Choices: A Recasting of Decision Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Sen, A. (1979) ‘Equality of what?’, Tanner Lecture on Human Values, Stanford University.

Sen, A. (1985) ‘Well-being, agency, and freedom’. Dewey Lectures, Journal of Philosophy,82, pp. 169–221 . Sen, A. (1999a) Commodities and Capabilites, Oxford University Press, New York.

Sen, A. (1999b) Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press, New York.

Sen, A. (1999c) Reason Before Identity, Oxford University Press, New York.

Sen, A. (2000) ‘The ends and means of sustainability’, Key Note Address at the International Conference on Transition to Sustainability, Tokyo, May.

Sen, A. (2002) Rationality and Freedom, Bellknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge.

Sen, A. (2004) ‘Why we should preserve the spotted owl’, London Review of Books, 26(3) [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n03/sen_01_html].

Shiva, V. (2002) Water Wars: Privatisation, Pollution, and Profit, Pluto Press, London.

Singh, S. (1998) Taming the Waters, Oxford University Press, Delhi.

Solow, R. (1992) ‘Sustainability: an economist’s perspective’, in R. Dorfman and N. Dorfman (Eds), Economics of the Environment, W.W. Norton and Co., New York.

Stewart, F. (2001) ‘Horizontal inequalities: a neglected dimension of development’, WIDER Annual Lecture, UNU/WIDER, Helsinki.

Swain, A. (2000) ‘Water scarcity as a source of crises’, in E. Nafziger, F. Stewart and R.Vayrynen (Eds), War, Hunger, and Displacement: The Origins of Humanitarian Emergencies: Volume 1, UNU/WIDER Studies in Development Economics, Oxford University Press, New York.

Varshney, A. (2004) Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India, Yale University Press, New Haven.

Wolf, A., Yoffe, S. and Giordano, M. (2003) ‘International waters: identifying basins at risk’, Water Policy, 5, pp. 29–60.

Woodward, K. (2002) Understanding Identity, Arnold, London.

World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, New York.