Integrated urban water governance in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: changes and inertias

Oliveira, Ana Paula B.V., Heller, Léo, Nascimento, Nilo and Lobina, Emanuele (2012) Integrated urban water governance in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: changes and inertias. International Journal of Water (IJW). ISSN 1465-6620 (Print), 1741-5322 (Online) (In Press)

Abstract

This paper intends to contribute to the analysis of changes in the model of water governance in Belo Horizonte. The first part of the article explores how different theories concerning governance can be interpreted in different ways and, based on this, develops three water governance models: (i) the previous centralised model, (ii) the traditional normative model, and (iii) the currently implemented model. The second part of the paper focuses on understanding the changes and inertias that occurred in the city from the perspective of three domains, namely, decentralisation, participation and integration. It is shown that, from an historical institutional viewpoint, policy choices made in the past have acted as constraints over future options (application of path dependence theory). Each analysis is not strict, and may contribute to the comprehension of the changes in policy within the water sector. The empirical analysis presented led to the conclusion that the changes in the management model were not sufficient to radically transform management principles.

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