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its dissipative nature entropy became associated with chaos. The second law of ther-
modynamics, which describes the increase of entropy or chaos in a closed system, was
translated in more popular terms. For example, natural processes, and even evolution,
tend towards an increase in chaos. As evolution also produces more and more com-
plex ordered systems, the term negentropy was introduced to describe the driving force
behind evolutionary change. When the concepts of entropy and negentropy became
increasingly useful in information theories in the late 1940s, the quest for applications
in social theories commenced as well. The application to the latter resulted in more
confusion than it did find concrete results.
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In this study, the entropic and negentropic
elements of conflict and cooperation, especially in fragile states and young democra-
cies like study areas, will be further analysed. The concept of void will be analysed
from the point of view of a local optimum in entropy in a closed system that can only
be overcome by an external or new source of energy, be it in the form of innovation,
economic or political development.
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Change can come from all the spaces of governance as well as the interactions
between them. An enabling environment, either triggered by progress in politics, eco-
nomics or the social domain, helps actors develop themselves, the resource and inspire
others (ter Horst 2012). This can best be explained through an example. During our
work in Ethiopia, we discovered agents of change. With the assistance of a national
program, young men from the city rented a piece of land in the country side and started
to grow crops using drip irrigation as a new technology. The owner of the land was
then hired as a seasonal labourer, on hand to tend to the planted crops. The yield
appeared high due to the new techniques and crops used, inspiring others to replicate
the practice. In this area, these changes are very important as the people often depend
on food aid. These agents of change worked in a political context that stimulated these
processes and the results are well perceived by the local communities, hence the change
process is embedded both at micro and macro level. In terms of spaces of governance,
it can be stated that the top-down and bottom-up processes are reinforcing each other
in this particular example. Where agents of change in different spaces of government
are interfering, patterns of change can originate and be propagated efficiently and
effectively. The overall political context in Palestine and Yemen is much more compli-
cated. Hence, internal and external agents of change face more difficulties and require
creative strategies to find appropriate spaces of change.
Agents can be national, but also local - focusing on states is important, but how
this translates to the local level is most important, as this is where the resource is used.
In our research we have moved to the more practical stages of political action plans
where changing positions of stakeholders is a key issue (see figure 5.2). Outcomes of
the analysis will further shape the theoretical framework.
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See http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2013/01/29/social-entropy/
and http://en
.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entropy (accessed September 10, 2013).
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The concepts of entropy and negentropy and its relationship with groundwater management
are further explored in the upcoming special issue of the International Water Governance Journal
on Anarchy: the “dark'' side of water governance? (Smidt et al. forthcoming).
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