This edited volume provides a critical discussion of particular trends that are widely recognised to influence water management by comparing them with what is actually happening in the field. Among others, these trends include water security, adaptive or integrative management, and the water-energy-food nexus, which are often presented as essential means to reaching more sustainable and resilient water use. However, the extent to which these trends have managed to structure concrete practices in water management remains uncertain.Informed by empirically grounded research, each chapter of this work engages with a particular approach, concept or theory. Together, they provide a nuanced picture of trends in water management that require universal remedies and global norms.

Provides a critical discussion of international water management concepts and trends

1. Taking-Up Practical and Intellectual Challenges Posed by International Water Management Trends: Some Introductory Remarks; C.Bréthaut and R.Schweizer.- 2. Avoiding the Commons Trap: An Exploration of Local Community Governance of Water in Valais, Switzerland; R.Schweizer.- 3. Integrated Water Resources Management as a Compromise: Renewing the Water Act in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland; A.Buchs.- 4. Transboundary Water Management: From Geopolitics to a Non-State Analytical Perspective: The Case of the Rhône river; C.Bréthaut.- 5. From Multi-Level Governance to Scalar Politics: Water Community Networks Challenging Neo-Extractivist Governmental Institutions in Ecuador; E.Dupuits.- 6. Exploring the Democratic Legitimacy of Privatization in the Water Sector: Two Cases in Switzerland; E.Lieberherr.- 7. Governing Water with Market-Based Instruments: Preferences and Skepticism in Switzerland; F.Metz & P.Leifeld.- 8. Climate Change Adaptation as a New Global Norm in the Water Sector? Between Symbolism and Dilution; J.Dupuis.- 9. Water Security as a Normative Goal or as a Structural Principle for Water Governance; T.Bolognesi & S.Kluser.- 10. Politicizing the Water-Energy Nexus. Hydropower and Instream Values in Two Swiss Cantons Water Strategies; L.Tonka.- 11. From the Promises of International Water Management Trends to the Reality of Policies and Practices: Some Conclusive Thoughts; R.Schweizer & C.Bréthaut.