Water management from tradition to second modernity: an analysis of the water crisis in Iran

Abstract

This article reflects on the fundamentals of first and second modernity and its usefulness and practicability for problem formulation and solving in the context of water management practices in Iran. It is argued that the current water crisis in Iran resulted from modernization based on first modernity paradigms, and second modernity concepts are used to present a framework for new water management approaches. Based on the concept of sub-political arrangements, we suggest that water management issues can be treated best in process-based ways under a reflexive modernity point of view.