The Field of Water Policy

Project Description

Bringing together the analysis of a diverse team of interdisciplinary social scientists from the USA, France, and Spain, this project aimed to develop a new approach to environmental problems. Cutting through the fragmented perspectives on water crises, it sought to shift the analysis on water policy by looking at the social logics behind environmental issues. Most importantly, it analyzes the dynamic influences on water management, as well as the social and institutional forces that orient water and conservation policies. Specifically, the project brought the tools of Pierre Bourdieu’s field sociology to bear on a moment of the ongoing drought in the American Southwest.

Project Outcomes

2023 Le Champ des Politiques Hydriques dans l’Ouest Étasunien. 2022. Franck Poupeau, Brian F. O’Neill, Joan Cortinas Munoz, Murielle Coeurdray, Eliza Benites-Gambirazio. Paris: Éditions du Croquant

2019    Poupeau, Franck, Brian F. O’Neill, Joan Cortinas-Muñoz, Murielle Coeurdray, and Eliza Benites-Gambirazio. The Field of Water Policy: Power and Scarcity in the American Southwest. December 2019. Routledge, New York, New York. ISBN-10: 0367192594.

2018    O’Neill, Brian F., Joan Cortinas, Murielle Coeurdray, and Franck Poupeau. “Reinventing Water Conservation: Coalitions for Water Policy in the American West.” In Franck Poupeau, Lala Razafimahefa, Jérémy Robert, Delphine Mercier, Gilles Massardier, and Pedro Roberto Jacobi (ed.): Water Conflicts and Hydrocracy in the Americas: Coalitions, Networks, Policies. Chapter 10, pg. 293-326. November 2018. University of Sao Paulo Press, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

2017    Cortinas, J., Brian F. O’Neill, and Franck Poupeau. “Drought and Water Policy in the Western USA: Genesis and Structure of a Multi-level Field.” In James Albright, Deborah Hartman, and Jacqueline Widin (ed.): Bourdieu’s Field Theory and the Social Sciences (Chapter 2, pg. 21-37). October 2017. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5385-6_2

2016    Coeurdray, Murielle, Franck Poupeau, Brian O’Neill, and Joan Cortinas. “Delivering More than Water-The Salt River Project: The Invention of an Adaptive Partnership for Water Management” In Franck Poupeau and Dominique Lorrain (ed.): Water Regimes: Beyond the Public and Private Sector Debate. Chapter 2, pg. 37-53. September 2016. Routledge, New York, New York. 

2016    Cortinas, Joan, Murielle Coeurdray, Brian O’Neill et Franck Poupeau, « Les mégaprojets hydriques de l’ouest étasunien: histoire d’État(s) et gestion des ressources naturelles », VertigO - la revue électronique en sciences de l'environnement. Décembre 2016, Vol. 16 numéro 3. DOI 10.4000/vertigo.18085

2016    O’Neill, Brian F., Murielle Coeurdray, Franck Poupeau, Joan Cortinas. “Laws of the River: Conflict and Cooperation on the Colorado River.” In Franck Poupeau, Hoshin Gupta, Aleix, Serrat-Capdevila, Maria A. Sans-Fuentes, Susan Harris, and László G. Hayde (ed.): Water Bankruptcy in the Land of Plenty. Chapter 4, pg. 43-62. June 2016. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. ISBN: 978-1-138-02969-9.