International donors as agents of policy transfer in influencing water legislation: The adoption of the river basin principle by transition economies in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia

Abstract

Over the past decades, political scientists have studied how the policies and ideas of one political setting are used in the development of policies in another political setting, a process known as ‘policy transfer’. In the case of such transfer from one country to another, the role of various institutions and networks as ‘agents’ of policy transfer becomes central. Many researchers have mapped the role of the international donor community as an agent of transfer of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles in developing economies. This article examines the case of 11 transition economies from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) to establish whether the role of the international donor community has been similar in exporting the IWRM concept, along with its key river basin principle, into national legislation. Roughly a decade after these 11 former Soviet republics gained independence in 1991, a ‘window of opportunity’ emerged when the need arose to revise the national water legislation that had been developed according to old Soviet approaches. The present analysis finds that international donors such as the EU, the US and UN agencies have played a significant role as transfer agents, being involved in shaping at least 18 out of 23 key national water laws, programmes or concepts in the selected countries between 2002 and 2023. The article concludes that 10 countries have adopted IWRM basin management principle and one is expected to follow soon as a result of a process involving international donor engagement.