In the area of water resources management, in depth analyses of national and international institutions have been a most neglected issue. This, in one sense, is not surprising since all the institutions would like to have their successes and strengths to be highlighted, but very few would like to have their weaknesses, constraints and failures to be critically examined in public. Thus, most institutions would not like, and in fact actively discourage, to have their overall performance to be analysed frankly and objectively. Accordingly, they mostly prefer not to cooperate with independent and competent analysts, especially if such assessments are unlikely to remain confidential. Thus, while some pseudo-evaluations are currently available, which mostly show the institutions concerned and their programmes in a positive light, really serious assessments of institutional performance are conspicuous because of their absence.
By Asit K. Biswas, Chapter of the book: Water Institutions: Policies, Performance and Prospects, Chennat Gopalakrishnan, edited by Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas, 2005, Springer, Berlin, pages 24-45. DOI: 10.1007/3-540-26567-8_2