Expertise, Elites, and Resource Management Reform: Resisting Agricultural Water Conservation in California's Imperial Valley

Abstract

An explanation of why the management of natural resources sometimes benefits an elite few, how the exercise of expertise contributes to this, and how traditional and inefficient resource use can continue. Water scarcity in Southern California forces the nation's largest irrigation district to conserve and transfer water to urban areas. Elites resist reform with expert help, and when overcome by events, use the authority of expertise to legitimize reforms which benefit their interests.

Keywords:Water politics, scarcity and conservation; Expertise and power; Resource management/ reform; Irrigation - Social Aspects