Water and globalization: case study of Central Asia

The present-day world is enmeshed in global networks. The information space has been formed according to rules of Internet and electronic messaging and ensures instantaneous communication and momentary dissemination of any news, thus bringing about apparent unity of the world. Other networks (financial, trade, economic, legal and institutional) have their own rules, while being in motion and interacting with each other they represent a phenomenon of globalization. In the water sector, with its several aspects, this process has influenced politics, economy, technology, environment, culture, ideology and even religion since the 1950s. Each globalization aspect produced its effect on the water sector in countries, regions, and the world, even in periods and countries where the sector was developed independently. These aspects play different roles at each development stage. The degrees to which globalization penetrates at regional and national levels are different, dependent on the degree of the anti-effect of governance. Dynamics of the processes are quite representative in Central Asia, which despite being behind the Iron Curtain for a long time could not withstand global trends and tendencies. The influence of “globalism” on the water sector in Central Asia is presented in this paper. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.