Environmental Engineering Reference
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exchange of data and information (“technical cooperation''); to the conclusion of for-
mal agreements (whether the agreement is implemented and solves any problems or
not); to cooperation on minor issues; and to cooperation in addressing the root causes
of problems (Zeitoun et al. 2010).
Conflict may refer to a difference in views, (perceived) interests and underlying
values between two or more actors (substantive conflict). However, it may also refer to
a problematic relation between actors (relational conflict). This may range from slight
feelings of unease and tension, to a total stop of communication and even acts of vio-
lence (Zeitoun and Mirumachi 2010). The two types of conflicts do not necessarily go
hand-in-hand. Decreasing per capita water availability is likely to increase competition
over scarce water resources and hence substantive conflicts, but it will only lead to rela-
tional conflicts if the current relations are not strong enough to handle these differences.
Conflict is often seen as the opposite of cooperation: more conflict means less coop-
eration and vice versa. The relationship between conflict and cooperation is, however,
probably more complex than a simple opposite position would suggest. In practice,
the prevalence or absence of both conflict and cooperation exist on a vast continuum.
For example, cooperation on minor issues may take place, while concomitantly root
problems are not addressed and underlying conflicts remain. In situations of power
imbalance, the stronger party could adopt this strategy in order to depoliticise the sit-
uation, appease the weaker party, maintain the status quo, and perpetuate inequality.
The weaker party may adopt this strategy for pragmatic reasons, because they are not
strong enough to affect any fundamental change, but any agreement reached will be
insufficient and unstable (Zeitoun et al. 2010).
It is also important to avoid seeing cooperation as an 'ideal state'. There are many
forms of cooperation that perpetuate inequality or resource degradation. Similarly,
conflict is not necessarily unproductive or counterproductive; it can take many shapes
and even facilitate a transition to a situation of resource management that is better
balanced. There are situations in which conflict and cooperation exist more or less
in parallel, creating interdependencies, structural changes and new dynamics provides
room for new explanations and policy improvements.
Focusing on conflict and cooperation alone might close our eyes to options where
neither conflict nor cooperation exists. Accepting this as a benign situation per defi-
nition would be naïve. The case of no cooperation and no conflict is fine as long as
there are no underlying problems. However, in groundwater management, as in most
governance systems, there often are underlying problems. We call the situation where
no action is undertaken despite underlying problems a void . Voids do not automati-
cally have a positive or negative effect, but they can be signals of a tacit suppression
of conflict by a strong party that benefits from inaction, or signals of a general lack of
institutional capacity and social capital. Addressing this situation and uncovering its
background is therefore preferable.
In addition to the discussion of these mechanisms, we would like to add the fol-
lowing four considerations to the existing theoretical perspective: (1) how are these
different conflicts and examples of cooperation affected by the larger political context;
(2) how can these examples add to knowledge of this political context, often consid-
ered a black box; (3) how are voids left to persist or solved - especially when they are
reflecting larger problems; and (4) how can we further contribute to the mutual inter-
dependency of cooperation and conflict. Recalling that groundwater issues are locally
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