Scalar Disconnect: The logic of transboundary water governance in the Mekong

Suhardiman, D., Giordano, M., & Molle, F. (2012). Scalar Disconnect: The Logic of Transboundary Water Governance in the Mekong. In Society & Natural Resources (Vol. 25, Issue 6, pp. 572–586). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2011.604398

This article provides an institutional analysis of the Mekong River Commission and brings to light the institutional dissonances between regional and national decision-making landscapes in the Lower Mekong Basin. The current scalar disconnect between regional and national decision-making processes reflects how international donors and member country representatives obscure potential conflict/tension in transboundary water governance in the Mekong. From a scholarly perspective, it questions academic approaches that assume that the state is the sole or primary actor in international relations.