Structural characteristics of governmental and non-governmental institutions network: case of water governance system in Kor River basin in Iran.

Water has been the source of life since it was found. In recent years, the false assurance of the permanence of water services in Iran has led to the creation of institutional structures related to water in an inappropriate and incompatible manner with environmental changes, and when water crises occur, such as droughts, floods, and, on a larger scale, climate changes, they do not have the flexibility and resilience to these changes. To this end, recognizing the current water governance system in the country is considered an essential need. The present study examines the regime of water governance and its structural characteristics in the Kor River basin, which is one of the areas facing water shortage challenges. In order to analyze these characteristics and determine the regime of the water governance system, the method of social network analysis (SNA) was used in the network of formal and informal institutions of Kherameh county downstream of the Kor River basin. This research has been done in a period of 9 months and includes designing questionnaires, field visits, completing questionnaires and analyzing the results. The results showed that the water governance network in this region has an unstable and weak structure and as a result, the level of cooperation and coordination between the institutions is low and the level of power centralization is high. As a result, the governing regime is centralized, and therefore, the establishment of a polycentric governance system requires the improvement of horizontal relations between formal and informal institutions and protection and development institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]