The “International” in Water–Society Relations:A Case Study of an Arctic Urban Watershed

• Main Author: Tennberg, Monica
• Other Authors: Lehtimäki, Markku, Rosenholm, Arja, Trubina, Elena, Tynkkynen, Nina
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2022
• Subjects: Arctic; Water governance; Governmentality; Situational analysis; /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/1/17/2; name=Environmental sciences; Rovaniemi; Northern Finland
• Online Access: https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/dd9d77a2-a661-45b4-95e1-acec5e6adde7; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10149-6

Water inspires innovative ways of thinking about circulation, power, and knowledge. Power circulates in water-society relations in different ways: within and between discourses about what the problem with water is, within constituting networks of agencies and alliances to solve problematic water-society relations, and defining different positions in regard to the future of water-society relations. The dimension of “the international” in water-society relations remains understudied, due to the territorially, legally, and institutionally bound approaches in studies of water governance. The watershed in the city of Rovaniemi in northern Finland, a meeting point of two major rivers, provides a case study for discussing the elusive “international” in complex, entangled water-society relations. Located near the Arctic Circle, the urban watershed is a regulated, disciplined, and governmentalized – yet contested – space in numerous ways as a site involving nature protection, energy and climate politics, flood protection, and water management by multilevel governance incorporating local, regional, national, and European dimensions. The current complex and entangled water-society relations in the watershed are analyzed via multisite data to map multiple issues, relations of power, and positions towards the watershed and its future, exemplifying the relationally diverse nature of water-society relations beyond territorial boundaries.