Innovation prospects in US-Mexico border water management: the IBWC and the BECC in theoretical perspective

Binational water management along the US - Mexican border is changing as a result of new institutions and approaches growing out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In this study we examine the two leading bor der water-management, agencies today, the venerable International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and the new Border Environment Cooperation Comm ission (BECC), to understand better the post-NAFTA prospects for policy inn ovation in this issue area. The two agencies, IBWC and BECC, are analyzed f rom the perspective of two prominent theoretical explanations for agency be havior, structural choice politics and interorganizational implementation, to identify their political and institutional limitations as binational wat er-management agencies. We then chart the prospects for further innovation in binational water management along the US-Mexico border.