Understanding governance of large freshwater systems: a comparative analysis of transnational watershed regimes in the Mediterranean region

The capacity of common pool resource (CPR) theory to explain resource allocation problems under scarcity conditions in local contexts is well proven. The conceptual and empirical validity of the theory to understand the management of other environmental problems in large-scale contexts is a more open question. This paper addresses this question in threeways. First, the paper includes a thorough conceptualization of the similarities and di er-ences between water scarcity and water pollution problems. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of the resources and actors involved in the two types of problems and how these characteristics mediate the emergence and governance of externalities, collective action dilemmas and transaction costs. Second, the paper explores the opportunities and challenges
of managing the two di erent types of problems in the context of a set of large-scale freshwater systems. Particular attention is paid to the distinction between national and transnational systems in an attempt to disentangle the e ects of physical scale from that of political boundaries on governance. Third, the paper draws some hypotheses about the contribution of resource, social and governance characteristics to resource conservation across types of
environmental problems and boundary contexts. Methodologically, the paper relies on the Social-Ecological Systems Meta-Analysis database (SESMAD) and coding protocol and a strati ed random sample based on existing world river datasets.