A novel framework for water right conflict resolution considering actors’ power and inter-organizational relationships analysis

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Abstract Water allocation from reservoirs has always been a challenging issue for decision-makers. The more the stakeholders in the allocation projects, the more conflicts among them could be expected to receive more water rights. As a result, it is necessary to study the relations and power among organizations. In this study, the Ilam dam was used as the case study, and the social network analysis was also used to assess the interactions among the involved organizations and evaluate their power using centrality measures. Based on the network analysis and actors’ power assessment, a novel approach was applied to define and analyze the conflict associated with water quantity allocation. Accordingly, the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution was used for both basic and power-asymmetric conflict analysis models. In the power-asymmetric approach, the direct power scenario gives the most powerful actor the possibility of punishing the violating organizations using their political and executive power. Based on the status quo of the conflict, the results obtained from the equilibrium analysis show that both the power of the main actor and the nature of relationships other actors have with the most powerful actor directly influence the conflict's outcome.