Coping with change: A study of local irrigation institutions in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper examines how Taiwan's local irrigation institutions have evolved and changed amid rapid political-economic development in the last decade. Based upon the literatures of institutional analysis and common-pool resource management, I discuss and compare how local irrigation institutions in three areas in the country have responded, or failed to respond, to the changing environment. A major finding is that local self-governing irrigation institutions are not doomed to fail amid economic development. Several variables affect the incentives and capacity of farmers to redesign their local institutions to cope with the changes in the macro setting. Particularly, flexible status-quo institutions and a conductive governance regime can better facilitate farmers' rule-crafting efforts. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.