Abstract
We review historical and contemporary literature on change in water-management institutions in post-socialist Uzbekistan, exploring the dynamics of change of formal institutions in irrigation-water management there by analyzing relationships between the perceptions and beliefs of policymakers, policy interventions they undertake, and the consequences that these seem to have on resource-use practices. We have mainly relied on the reviewed literature, but have also made use of expert interviews conducted by the authors during 2011–2016 in Uzbekistan. Our results indicate that Uzbek policymakers have learned much from the unanticipated and undesired consequences of earlier irrigation reforms, as their perceptions and beliefs have changed and developed over time. Yet, although policymakers’ beliefs have been fostered by a newly emergent Integrated Water Resources Management approach – which has become a central, globally promoted paradigm – the beliefs and institutions inherited from the Soviet era, as well as informal practices in irrigation-water use, have also been acting to constrain the choices of politicians and economic entrepreneurs.
Highlights
During the past century, expansion of irrigated agricultural areas was a key component of nation-building processes in Soviet Central Asia (Abdullaev and Rakhmatullaev 2015) and, in recent decades, international donor agencies have been heavily investing in supporting the now-independent countries in the region to modernize their large-scale irrigation facilities and make water use and management more efficient (Moss and Hamidov 2016)
Our analysis of the nature of Uzbek policy development and implementation in irrigation-water use is aided by the cognitive interpretation of institutional change set forth by North (2005), who underlines the importance of examining relationships between belief systems, path dependence and institutional development
The objective of the present study is to explore the dynamics of change of formal institutions in Uzbek irrigation-water management during the post-Soviet period by analyzing relationships between perceptions and beliefs of policymakers, policy interventions they undertake, and consequences that these seem to have on resource-use practices
Summary
Expansion of irrigated agricultural areas was a key component of nation-building processes in Soviet Central Asia (Abdullaev and Rakhmatullaev 2015) and, in recent decades, international donor agencies have been heavily investing in supporting the now-independent countries in the region to modernize their large-scale irrigation facilities and make water use and management more efficient (Moss and Hamidov 2016). The objective of the present study is to explore the dynamics of change of formal institutions in Uzbek irrigation-water management during the post-Soviet period by analyzing relationships between perceptions and beliefs of policymakers, policy interventions they undertake, and consequences that these seem to have on resource-use practices. For the development of cotton production, irrigation scheduling played an important role, as it attempted to ensure distribution of water between districts and water users at appropriate times (Bedrintsev and Korzhavin 1975) It should be noted, that intensive use of new lands led to increase of water scarcity, resulting in poor-quality irrigation water in the middle and lower reaches of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers. We briefly outline some of the key aspects of that process
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