Dams and Dynasty, and the Colonial Transformation of Balinese Irrigation Management

Abstract

This article takes issue with Stephen Lansing's bottom-up model of Balinese irrigation management. Based on archival research and extensive fieldwork in the former south Balinese kingdom of Mengwi, it is argued that in pre-colonial days large scale irrigation depended largely on dynastic involvement. During the colonial period (1906-1942) the Dutch took over the role of regional irrigation management while they strengthened the autonomy of local irrigation associations. © 2010 The Author(s).