Is Irrigationalism a Dominant Ideology in Securing Hydrotopia in Mekong Nation States

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3985281
AutoresDavid J H Blake (Independent Scholar, Taunton, UK), David Blake (0000-0002-2453-2090, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume50
Fascículo3
Páginas407-432
Data de publicação2020-05-26
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2019.1577903
OpenAlexW2913393195
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas39

For over six decades, grandiose proposals calling for significant expansion of public irrigation schemes have been commonplace throughout the Mekong region, irrespective of the political configuration or developmental stage of each state. From Pol Pot’s Democratic Kampuchea to Thailand’s military and quasi-democratic regimes, irrigation has figured prominently on development agendas. Mainstream narratives around irrigation are embedded in a technocentric, developmental and nationalistic discourse, incorporating socially pre-conditioned beliefs and values that closely reflect the rhetoric of state-linked elites. This article critically examines some of the narratives employed by key actors and groups to justify ongoing practices and processes of irrigation development, focusing on Thailand and Cambodia. It seeks to look beyond conventional econometric and instrumental drivers, to consider other socio-political factors that may account for irrigation’s critical role as a “technology of control,” but which are rarely examined across comparative national contexts. Further, it proposes a dominant ideology of irrigation developmentalism or “irrigationalism” as a useful concept in explaining certain aspects of contemporary social power in these nations. State-led irrigation may be perceived as a utopian intervention that aids in the emergence of an effective monopolistic authority and control by bureaucracies and other powerful groups over development decision-making processes and silencing opposition

Democracy · Development economics · Developmentalism · Economics · Ideology · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Cambodian History and Society · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Water Governance and Infrastructure