Shifts in the Public–Private Divide in Flood Management

Abstract

Flood management is changing in many countries across the globe. In spite of the different institutional paths taken in these countries, various common shifts in the governance arrangements for flood management can be observed, most notably decentralization and the increasing influence of the private sector. The central argument of this paper is that a new conceptualization of the public–private divide in flood management, which is based on the dimensions of collectivity and visibility, is helpful in understanding and judging these shifts. Modern flood risk management asks for new cooperative arrangements between state, market and civil society in which the visibility and collectivity dimensions are reunited.