Unlikely Alliances in Action: Balancing Alignment and Autonomy in Rural-Urban Water Conflicts

Abstract

Environmentalists, ranchers, and Indigenous nations are increasingly coming together on environmental issues in what have been called “unlikely alliances,” offering important insights into the role of collaboration and collective action in environmental governance. We examine two cases of unlikely alliances that formed in response to large rural-to-urban water transfer projects in the western United States, drawing on narrative analysis of interviews and focus groups with diverse participants. We highlight several key insights about unlikely alliances in action, finding that they 1) can take many different forms, often shifting over time; 2) require a delicate balance between alignment and autonomy, particularly when involving sovereign Indigenous nations; 3) can involve divergent understandings and expectations in regard to what it means to ally, with a notable distinction between issue-oriented and relationship-oriented approaches, and 4) are valued by participants even as they grapple with these challenges, particularly in the context of growing political polarization.

Keywords:

• Environmental governance
• rural-urban
• unlikely alliances
• water transfers
• Western United States

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the people who took the time to share their insights about unlikely alliances and to provide feedback on preliminary findings and draft manuscripts. They would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and encouraging feedback.

Notes

1 This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Nevada, Reno (Project 1663234-1). Informed consent was provided verbally by all participants.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Award #2004800 and Boise State University’s School of Public Service under Grant #RC0073.