Boundaries between inequality and difference in water governance

Abstract

This article addresses the themes of inequality and difference in water governance in Brazil. The production of hierarchies in the arenas of governance is discussed, defending the hypothesis that the shift from difference to inequality is the result of practices of justification that consolidate the sovereignty of technical competence in environmental management. Some of the more significant findings of studies about the structure and functioning of River Basin Committees in different regions of the country are taken as reference for this discussion. Based on these findings, we discuss the discursive production of the Committees, the authority of the agents that embody the new principles of management, and the implications of the process of scientification of the politics. The article concludes by pointing out the importance of diversity in the construction of a new narrative of environmental governance.