With the kind assistance of the University of Konstanz (Germany) and the Group’s host, Professor Bernd Wunder, the Working Group held its annual meeting in Konstanz on 6 March at the University. As has been the tradition, the morning after the meeting the Group’s host organised a most informative historical walking tour around the historical centre of Konstanz. Also included in the outings organised for the Group was a ferry excursion across Lake Constance.  This special attention was very much appreciated by the participants.

During the 2004 meeting twelve participants from eleven countries convened to discuss final country papers and work on drawing up the comparative concluding chapter of the water management study, to be published later in the year. Jos Raadschelders, as the Rapporteur of the study entitled “Fresh Water Management as Collective Action in Time”, circulated a working questionnaire which once completed and discussed by the participants was to serve as a working tool to assist the Rapporteur in completing the comparative concluding chapter of the study.  The last details of the study were discussed, including the need to respect the publication timetable to ensure that the manuscript would be ready for publication in good time.

The Chairperson, Fabio Rugge, then raised the subject of the Group’s new study theme. Several possibilities were raised and following a lively discussion and vote, the Group chose its new theme: Administration of Cultural, Historical and Artistic Heritage. The Group also unanimously decided that Stefan Fisch (Germany) should be the Rapporteur of the new study. He will also be drawing up the guidelines for the study.

To be published: The Institutional Arrangements for Water Management (19th and 20th Centuries) /L'organisation institutionnelle de la gestion de l'eau (19ème et 20ème siècle), edited by /sous la direction de Jos Raadschelders, Cahier d’histoire de l’administration n°7, Distribution: IOS Press, 2004

The Working Group’s next meeting on this new theme will be held at the University of Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium) in April 2005.
 
 

Constance

  

Constance

 

Photo de groupe à Constance

  

Photo de groupe à Constance