Currents of Water Commons Research : A Review
Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Raniecka, Paulina (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Dell'Angelo, Jampel (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Fecha:	2026
Resumen:	Since Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009, research on the commons, and particularly on water commons, has expanded significantly in volume and theoretical diversity. This paper offers a scoping review of 61 'water commons' studies to identify theoretical strands and ways in which water commons are currently operationalised and problematised. First, the review reflects on the evolution of water commons research from the Ostromian - that is, more institutional - approach, towards one that is more critical, relational and social constructivist. The paper shows that recent contributions have the potential for both constituting an inflection point and expanding the Ostromian tradition. Second, the review identifies four interconnected ways of operationalising water commons, that is, as a resource, an organisation, a community and a process. It highlights a shift away from purely resource- and right-centric understandings towards more complex sociopolitical conceptualisations. Also, water commons are predominantly framed as responses to market- and state-driven governance failures, though warnings against romanticisation remind us of their limits in addressing large-scale challenges and internal power asymmetries. The analysis further identifies two major debates - on the role of the state and on the relationship between rights-based approaches and relational commons governance - and two emerging threads concerning commons endurance under external pressures and the ambivalent role of social movements. Overall, the review enriches our understanding of the literature on water commons beyond the 'institutional vs. critical studies' dichotomy, and sheds new light on the diverse ways in which scholars have empirically worked with, and on, water commons.
Ayudas:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2023-148676OB-C22
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra, i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials i que es distribueixin sota la mateixa llicència que regula l'obra original. Cal que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article de revisió ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Materia:	Commoning ; Commons ; Critical theory ; Definitions ; Governance ; Ostrom ; Water
Publicado en:	Water alternatives, Vol. 19, Num. 2 (2026) , p. 228-252, ISSN 1965-0175

Adreça alternativa: https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol19/v19issue2/814-a19-2-7

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