Irrigation Water Governance and performance ; Gouvernance et performance de la gestion de l'eau d'irrigation en Tunisie : cas des périmètres irrigués de Nadhour-Zaghouan

Abstract

In Tunisia the water resource is scarce. The study of the evolution of water management policies shows considerable institutional changes: from a central administration (offices) to associations of water users (GDA).All these institutional changes were not a request of the beneficiaries of irrigated activity. They are caused by a political system subject to the requirements of internal and external environment.Locally these institutional changes have important implications for the governance and performance of irrigation water management in irrigated areas.This thesis aims to understand the relationship between institutional transformation and local governance, on the one hand and to explain the relationship between governance and irrigation water performance, on the other hand,For methodology, it was conducted in three stages. In a first step, we use the model of David Easton to study the interactions between institutional changes and political system. In the second step, we adopt the Strategic Analyses approach of Michel Crozier (1997) to analyze the current governance of irrigation water. In the third step, we employ the game theory, specially prisoner and chicken dilemmas, to assess the effects of local governance on the farms performance. The irrigated areas in the delegation of Nadhour were chosen as investigation area. The results of this study have elucidated the research questions initially formulated. In fact, we confirmed that the difficult situation of the irrigated areas mainly due to problems in the governance of irrigation water. The institutional changes imposed by a political system lead to governance problems. This governance is the cause of the weak performances in the irrigated area.This study has concluded that an institution must be conceived as a social construct, which goes through a process of institutionalization allowing its internalization and acceptance by all local actors.Keywords: Coalition, conflict, cooperation, governance, institutions, games, power, performance, political ...