Water Resources Governance System within the Framework of Iran's Seventh Development Plan: Application of Institutional Network Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Reclamation of Arid and Mountainous Regions, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

2 Social Business Institute, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Iran's water crisis is a profound governance challenge rooted in deep institutional structures. This research examines the institutional network governing water resources within the framework of Iran's Seventh Development Plan. Utilizing qualitative content analysis to identify relationships and employing Social Network Analysis (SNA) metrics, the study assesses the network's structural characteristics and their implications for the effectiveness and adaptability of water resources governance. SNA elucidates how structural problems emerge within this network. Quantitative findings indicate that the water governance system exhibits a low network density (9.9%), signifying very limited organizational cooperation and coherence. High in-degree centralization (73.54%) and low transitivity (29.3%) point to a concentration of power within the Ministry of Energy and predominantly one-way relationships that lack effective feedback. Conversely, high reciprocity (66.67%), coupled with low density, reveals clustered relationships where collaborations are confined to insular subgroups. The Ministry of Energy, with the highest betweenness centrality (49.46%), acts as a vital intermediary that can become an informational bottleneck. This structure was identified as a "centralized uncoordinated" regime, inherently unsuitable for effective and adaptive water management. This regime impedes governance effectiveness and hinders institutional adaptability to water scarcity, confirming the presence of "institutional gaps" and "weaknesses in legal and regulatory systems." To improve this situation, it is recommended to strengthen inter-organizational coordination and cooperation, distribute power and responsibilities more equitably, enhance transparency and stakeholder participation, boost institutional capacities, and strategically leverage mediating roles by neutral and influential entities.

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