The Spanish Hidrological Policy Commonwealth. Sectors and Political Trajectories on the Internet

Abstract

This paper deals with the transformation that water
policy in Spain has undergone in recent decades.
The erosion of a strongly united hydraulic policy
community has given way to a widespread and plural
network in which modern hydrological policy is under
discussion. In this network, a new discourse about
sustainability (the «New Water Culture») brings new
State and non-governmental actors together in an
innovative form of «issue politics». We document this
phenomenon by using research strategies drawn from
analyses of public issues on the Internet. More
precisely, we trace the «New Water Culture» network
on the Web, analyse its structure and consider the
political meaning of its history. On the basis of the
study carried out, we claim that a hydrological policy