Water Politics and Governance

About this course

Additional course information

• Learning objectives

  By the end of this course you will:

  • Describe various principles and theories for water governance and management.
  • Apply these to analyse different water policy and governance interventions, by analysing them from diverse and diverging perspectives.
  • Formulate your own analysis and suggestions regarding water-governance interventions on multiple scales: local, national and international.
  • Synthesise and communicate your water governance expertise.

• Course schedule and programme

  Typically the mornings will be organised in lectures while the afternoons for seminars and self-study. The structure of each session, generally, consists of lectures at the start, where we will first highlight concepts and key questions related to the topics we are working on. In the seminars we will engage in-group discussions associated with the key issues addressed in each session. The group activities will include simulations and team work. 

  Readings are assigned for each session and it will be essential to be well prepared in order to successfully participate and address key questions that we will tackle in the discussions. Finally, writing exercises, and debates will be an integral part of the course too. There we also be a daily excursion to the dunes (Nature Based Solution) of an Amsterdam water filtering company.

  Key topics treated:

  • Water politics and critical perspectives
  • Neoliberalism, commodification and privatisation
  • Water remunicipalisation
  • Commons Theory and Community Irrigation Schemes
  • Water Law and Water Rights
  • NEXUS, virtual water, water and energy, water and mining
  • International cooperation and water conflicts
  • Global virtual water trade, water grabbing, water war and peace

  ^{*Please note that this is a preliminary syllabus and that it can still change before the start of the course.}

• Forms of tuition and assessment

  Forms of tuition

  The course works on academic writing and presentation skills. It represents an excellent opportunity to be fully immersed in water related debates, ideal for master and phd students as well as for professionals that have an academic interest. Students will be expected to self study 3-4 hours per day during the course and additionally spend ~12 more hours to complete their essay which will be submitted the week after the end of the course.

  There will be sessions both in the morning as well as in the afternoon, allowing time for self study. The structure of each session, generally, consists of lectures at the start, where we will first highlight concepts and key questions related to the topics we are working on. We will engage in-group discussions associated with the key issues addressed in each session. The group activities will include simulations and team work.

  Readings are assigned for each session and it will be essential to be well prepared in order to successfully participate and address key questions that we will tackle in the discussions. Finally, writing exercises, and debates will be an integral part of the course too.
  
  Forms of assessment
  
  The workload includes three assessments:

  • Active participation in the course (20%)
  • Team presentation at the end of the course (30%)
  • An individual written essay of 1000 words (50%). The student will discuss with the lecturer the topic of the essay which can relate to research or professional interests in connection with the topics treated in the course.

• About the course organiser

  Jampel Dell'Angelo is Associate Professor of Water Governance and Politics in the Department of Environmental Policy Analysis at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is an environmental social scientist interested in the political economy of natural resources, in particular water. His research is on the multilevel dimensions of cooperation and conflict over freshwater resources.

  Dell’Angelo is the Director of the Research School for Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE).

  Dell'Angelo is the Principal Investigator and Coordinator of the EU's Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) NEWAVE 'Next Water Governance'. The NEWAVE consortium includes 10 host organizations and 19 partners from academia, the public and private sectors and organizes the research and training of 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) enrolled in different Phd programs.

  Since 2021 he serves as Editor-in-Chief of World Development.

• Faculty and department

  Faculty of Science (BETA)

  Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)