Is Water Policy the New Water Law? – Rethinking the Place of Law in Water Sector Reforms

Cullet, Philippe

Abstract

Water law and policy are in principle clearly distinct at the national and international levels. The
former is binding while the latter is not. Yet, over the past two decades, the respective space of water law
and water policy has evolved to the point where the distinction between the two is sometimes sidelined.
At the international level, the increasing pre-eminence of water policy is due in part to the absence of
binding legal frameworks in various key areas of the water sector. This has led international water
governance to be significantly different from other sectors. At the national level, reforms in the water
sector over the past 20 years have often been heavily influenced by the non-binding international water
policy instruments. This article explores the trajectory of water law and water policy at the international
level and in India over the past two decades. It highlights the specificities of the water sector in this regard
and some of the problems that arise when policy ends up either replacing law or as a framework
superseding law, thereby throwing out of gear most of the basic principles around which democratic legal
orders are based.

Citation

Cullet, P. (2012). Is Water Policy the New Water Law? – Rethinking the Place of Law in Water Sector Reforms. IDS Bulletin, 43(2), 69-78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00309.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2012
• Deposit Date: Mar 13, 2012
• Journal: IDS Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0265-5012
• Electronic ISSN: 1759-5436
• Publisher: Institute of Development Studies
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 69-78
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00309.x