116
3 eThekwini’s Green and Ecological Infrastructure Policy Landscape
is my PULSE
3 analytical framework world or the world of the respondents’ work
relating to green or ecological infrastructures.
In the section that follows, I will present the ‘voice’ of the respondents and how
they conform to, or are like, the PULSE
3 theories. By expressing their voices, the
nuances of their world of working in the green or ecological infrastructure domains
come to the fore. The section will unfold as follows: I will first give a brief description
of the theory, as described in scholarly texts, and then I will capture the respondents’
answers that contain elements of the theory, in order to explain how the answers
conform to the theoretical elements.
3.4.2.3 Hydrosocial Contract
The hydrosocial contract theory, which was first mooted by Prof Jeroen Warner from
the Wageningen University, emphasises the natural resource and its structural and
normative constituting role. The hydrosocial contract theory gives an insight into
how water resource management practices originated (Meissner and Turton 2003)
and how they evolve in society by means of two transitions. It is an unwritten contract
between the public and the government (Turton and Ohlsson 1999), and the transitions permeate into a Hobbesian contract, which characterises the first transition,
and the Lockean and Rousseauian forms, which typify the second transition (Warner
2000a, b, 2004; Turton and Meissner 2002). In the following pages, I will explain
the features of the theory, before identifying its elements in the interviews.
The first transition
The first transition takes place when a social entity encounters water scarcity that
is caused by a major event like a drought. Other societal, economic, environmental,
political and institutional changes can also act as independent variables of this transition, a typical example of which is the industrial and mining pollution of existing
water resources. These events culminate into a Hobbesian form of the hydrosocial
contract. During this time, a bipolar configuration appears between the government
and the water-consuming public, which closely resembles the writings of Thomas
Hobbes (1651), who argued that the state takes the final responsibility for securing
water provision in all aspects of society, either through dams, pipelines and hydropower installations, or the hydraulic mission (Turton and Meissner 2002; Warner
2004).
The desire to control nature as a norm constitutes the philosophical foundation
of the hydraulic mission. This norm is evident in the writings of Francis Bacon
(1561–1626) and René Descartes (1596–1650) (Turton and Meissner 2002). The
positivist paradigm, and particularly Newtonian physics, with has the longing to
control nature, underlines this norm (Turton and Meissner 2002; Meissner 2017). In
this regard, Bacon (1620) argued that humankind can use ‘the noble discoveries’ of
science to ‘renew and enlarge the power of the human race itself over the Universe’
(Kitchen 1855: 129, cited in Turton and Meissner 2002). The subsequent work of
Descartes (1637) supported Bacon’s thesis when he argued that:
3 eThekwini’s Green and Ecological Infrastructure Policy Landscape
is my PULSE
3 analytical framework world or the world of the respondents’ work
relating to green or ecological infrastructures.
In the section that follows, I will present the ‘voice’ of the respondents and how
they conform to, or are like, the PULSE
3 theories. By expressing their voices, the
nuances of their world of working in the green or ecological infrastructure domains
come to the fore. The section will unfold as follows: I will first give a brief description
of the theory, as described in scholarly texts, and then I will capture the respondents’
answers that contain elements of the theory, in order to explain how the answers
conform to the theoretical elements.
3.4.2.3 Hydrosocial Contract
The hydrosocial contract theory, which was first mooted by Prof Jeroen Warner from
the Wageningen University, emphasises the natural resource and its structural and
normative constituting role. The hydrosocial contract theory gives an insight into
how water resource management practices originated (Meissner and Turton 2003)
and how they evolve in society by means of two transitions. It is an unwritten contract
between the public and the government (Turton and Ohlsson 1999), and the transitions permeate into a Hobbesian contract, which characterises the first transition,
and the Lockean and Rousseauian forms, which typify the second transition (Warner
2000a, b, 2004; Turton and Meissner 2002). In the following pages, I will explain
the features of the theory, before identifying its elements in the interviews.
The first transition
The first transition takes place when a social entity encounters water scarcity that
is caused by a major event like a drought. Other societal, economic, environmental,
political and institutional changes can also act as independent variables of this transition, a typical example of which is the industrial and mining pollution of existing
water resources. These events culminate into a Hobbesian form of the hydrosocial
contract. During this time, a bipolar configuration appears between the government
and the water-consuming public, which closely resembles the writings of Thomas
Hobbes (1651), who argued that the state takes the final responsibility for securing
water provision in all aspects of society, either through dams, pipelines and hydropower installations, or the hydraulic mission (Turton and Meissner 2002; Warner
2004).
The desire to control nature as a norm constitutes the philosophical foundation
of the hydraulic mission. This norm is evident in the writings of Francis Bacon
(1561–1626) and René Descartes (1596–1650) (Turton and Meissner 2002). The
positivist paradigm, and particularly Newtonian physics, with has the longing to
control nature, underlines this norm (Turton and Meissner 2002; Meissner 2017). In
this regard, Bacon (1620) argued that humankind can use ‘the noble discoveries’ of
science to ‘renew and enlarge the power of the human race itself over the Universe’
(Kitchen 1855: 129, cited in Turton and Meissner 2002). The subsequent work of
Descartes (1637) supported Bacon’s thesis when he argued that: